下一代海軍無人戰(zhàn)斗機

????今年夏天,，美國海軍與私人公司諾斯羅普格魯曼公司攜手推出了X－47B無人戰(zhàn)斗機，并成功在航母甲板上進行了起降試驗,，引起舉世震動,。這款無人機將于明年結(jié)束試飛階段。隨著基礎(chǔ)技術(shù)已經(jīng)到位,，為美國海軍打造能部署在航母艦隊上的無人戰(zhàn)斗機部隊的競爭已經(jīng)正式開始,。

????諾斯羅普格魯曼公司顯然會憑借X-47B的某些型號暫時領(lǐng)先，但是其它競爭者也已經(jīng)加入了這場競賽,。比如波音公司（Boeing ）就計劃對現(xiàn)有一款無人機的概念機進行升級,。通用原子公司（General Atomics，該公司生產(chǎn)的“收割者”和“捕食者”無人機已經(jīng)部署在阿富汗,、巴基斯坦,、也門等地）也計劃推出自己的設(shè)計。洛克希德馬丁公司（AUVSILockheed Martin）也在今年的AUVSI展會上向觀眾展示了自家無人機的概念機的形象（上圖）,。美國海軍也將對自動飛行技術(shù)進行大量研究（并且拋出一筆利潤豐厚的生產(chǎn)合同作為激勵）,。因此，能夠在航母上部署的無人偵察機和戰(zhàn)斗機項目未來無疑是一個值得繼續(xù)關(guān)注的領(lǐng)域,。

The next generation of Navy combat drones

????The Navy made a media splash this summer when, alongside private-sector partner Northrop Grumman, it launched and recovered the first autonomous combat jet from the deck of an aircraft carrier. But the X-47B, as the experimental aircraft is known, will conclude test flights sometime next year. Now, with the baseline technology in place, the real competition to build the Navy's carrier- and combat-capable UAS fleet of the future gets underway in earnest.

????Though Northrop Grumman will remain in that race with some variant of the X-47B, other contenders are jumping into the competition. Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) plans to update one of its concept UAS. General Atomics (maker of the Reaper and Predator UAS currently deployed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere) plans to put forward a design, and at AUVSILockheed Martin (LMT, Fortune 500) gave attendees their most detailed look yet at its emerging concept UAS (pictured above). The Navy is about to kick off a flurry of research into autonomous flight capability (with a lucrative production contract as incentive), making the upcoming Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program a space to keep an eye on.