Boeing X-46

Artist's Impression of an X-46 landing on a carrier

The Boeing X-46 was a proposed unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) that was to be developed in conjunction with the U.S. Navy and DARPA as a naval carrier-based variant of the Boeing X-45 UCAV being developed for the U.S. Air Force. Two contracts for technology demonstrators were awarded in June 2000, to Boeing for the X-46A and to Northrop Grumman for the X-47A.

However, in April 2003, the Air Force and the Navy efforts were formally combined under the joint DARPA/USAF/Navy J-UCAV program, later renamed J-UCAS (Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems), and the X-46 program was terminated as redundant.^[1]

A Navy-only N-UCAS demonstrator program started in the summer of 2006.^[2] Boeing will use material developed for the X-46 and X-45 to propose the X-45N as a naval UCAV demonstrator.^[3]

References

↑ "Uncertainty Engulfs Pentagon's Unmanned Aircraft Plans". Aviation Week and Space Technology, 13 September 2002.
↑ "Navy UCAS Program Set To Be Launched Within Weeks". Aviation Week and Space Technology, 21 July 2006.
↑ "Bids are in for U.S. Navys UCAS-D". Aviation Week and Space Technology, 1 April 2007.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boeing X-46.

Boeing X-45 / X-46 page on designation-systems.net

USAF / Joint Service experimental aircraft (X-plane) designations since 1941

1–25	X-1 X-2 X-3 X-4 X-5 X-6 X-7 X-8 X-9 X-10 X-11 X-12 X-13 X-14 X-15 X-16 X-17 X-18 X-19 X-20 X-21 X-22 X-23 X-24A / B X-25

26–50	X-26 X-27 X-28 X-29 X-30 X-31 X-32 X-33 X-34 X-35 X-36 X-37 X-38 X-39 X-40 X-41 X-42 X-43 X-44 X-45 X-46 X-47A / B / C X-48 X-49 X-50

50–	X-51 X-52¹ X-53 X-54 X-55 X-56

See also	D-558-1 D-558-2 M2-F1 M2-F2 M2-F3 HL-10 AD-1

¹ Not assigned.

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