下一代海軍無(wú)人戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)

????今年夏天，美國(guó)海軍與私人公司諾斯羅普格魯曼公司攜手推出了X－47B無(wú)人戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)，并成功在航母甲板上進(jìn)行了起降試驗(yàn)，引起舉世震動(dòng)。這款無(wú)人機(jī)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(guó)海軍打造能部署在航母艦隊(duì)上的無(wú)人戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)部隊(duì)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)已經(jīng)正式開(kāi)始。

????諾斯羅普格魯曼公司顯然會(huì)憑借X-47B的某些型號(hào)暫時(shí)領(lǐng)先，但是其它競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者也已經(jīng)加入了這場(chǎng)競(jìng)賽。比如波音公司（Boeing ）就計(jì)劃對(duì)現(xiàn)有一款無(wú)人機(jī)的概念機(jī)進(jìn)行升級(jí)。通用原子公司（General Atomics，該公司生產(chǎn)的“收割者”和“捕食者”無(wú)人機(jī)已經(jīng)部署在阿富汗、巴基斯坦、也門(mén)等地）也計(jì)劃推出自己的設(shè)計(jì)。洛克希德馬丁公司（AUVSILockheed Martin）也在今年的AUVSI展會(huì)上向觀眾展示了自家無(wú)人機(jī)的概念機(jī)的形象（上圖）。美國(guó)海軍也將對(duì)自動(dòng)飛行技術(shù)進(jìn)行大量研究（并且拋出一筆利潤(rùn)豐厚的生產(chǎn)合同作為激勵(lì)）。因此，能夠在航母上部署的無(wú)人偵察機(jī)和戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)項(xiàng)目未來(lái)無(wú)疑是一個(gè)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.