PLAN Catapult Development Thread, News, etc.

I think it is still far too soOn to write of the UCLASS or any other future armed UAV for the NAvy.

While the last administration found common cause with the groups inside the Navy bent on protecting manned aircraft at all costs and reversed a decision that had made it to the decks of the carrier with an aircraft virtually ready to go in terms of an armed surveillance and strike mission, and with very strong stealth to boot...that does not mean that the argument or the battle is ended.

IMHO, the decision to end the X-47B and at first turn it into a tanker with maybe a little surveillance was ludicrous, the follow on decision by Grumman, who had the expertise (and still does) to build that type of aircraft and make it work off of a carrier, told the Navy and the government thAt it was not interested in a paltry use of that aircraft for a tanker mission.

Now...a tanker mission may end up being a UAV mission (or is it is called in the Navy a C-BARS "Carrier Born Aerial Refueling System.

But the armed strike and surveillance mission of the X-47B variety is not dead and has not gone away. it has simply suffered a very political set back for the time being, one which the manufacture was unwilling to convert into the Stringray...and that said a lot right there about the depth of the conflict internal to the service and the politics.


Make no mistake, the US still has and is husbanding and holding close the technology and knowledge that allowed the X-47B to do what it did. And it will come out again sooner or later. My hope is sooner.

It is ludicrous to think that the X-47B heralded the end of manned flight. When it comes to many manned flights, including air dominance and CAS and more, the manned component is still very much required, particularly if there is any thought or chance of a opposition presence in the air over or near the targets.

At any rate...let's give it some more time. I believe the Chinese are years away from having a truly effective UCLASS type capability off of carrier decks while the US in 2013 showed it could be done, what all went into making that happen is something that a nation relatively new to aircraft operations off of carrier decks will have a very steep curve to go through in order to repeat it.

But time will tell...on both counts. How soon the Chinese can make it happen...and how soon the US will get back on track with a technology that is truly got game changing potential.

The US NAvy and Grumman and Lockheed were already in a position to have FA?18-F aircraft of F-35C aircraft control up to the X-47Bs from their cockpits if necessary in terms of having a front force of UCLASS aircraft doing the SEAD mission followed immediately by the larger strike aircraft who were either controlling them themselves, or taking their ques from Advanced Hawkeyes, or control from the ship or any place else the comms could reach...and for the US that comm is not necessarily going to be satellite alone in the future as the US established with Global Hawks, P-8s and Tritons, regional and global communication hubs to replace the satellite comms whenever they are threatened.

The uS is on the cusp of making all of that happen...in fact had made it happened...it is just not deployed world-wide yet.

But recognizing the threat to the satellite comms has made the US spend years and many billions in establishing alternate means to have the comm control necessary to do all the neat networking and control it has grown used to.

The UCLASS was going to be an integral part of that...and I simply refuse to believe that such a ground breaking part will remain set aside for too long.

Time will tell though.

 

We shall see.

There are factions in the US NAvy about this...of late, the anti-UCLASS (armed trike UAV) group have born sway and a lot of that is because of thje administration of the last eight years who aligned themselves with tht group and ensured that the decision makers were in place to make it happen.

But that can change back too. I have seen it happen and hope it will happen in this instance sooner rather than later.

Ten years is a long time for the Chinese. Launching An aircraft like they are from land is a much different thing than launching and landing on a moving carrier, and then having the ability to control the aircraft 200 and more miles away from the carrier.

The US is already capable of doing this.

The US Navy has made us of Predators and particularly Reapers. Those instances are kept very quiet, but they have occurred.

I knwo this, there are powerful people in the UCLASS group and they are not going to sleep or giving up..they are just preparing for a more favorable political environment.

It's a shame...but that is the way it is right now.