page_title: History of unmanned combat aerial vehicles
section_title: US Navy / Northrop Grumman X-47A Pegasus UCAV
hierarchical_section_title: History of unmanned combat aerial vehicles / US Navy / Northrop Grumman X-47A Pegasus UCAV
caption_attribution_description: English: X-47A rollout, front quarter view
context_page_description: The history of unmanned combat aerial vehicles is closely tied to the general history of unmanned aerial vehicles.
context_section_description: The US Navy did not commit to practical UCAV efforts until the summer of 2000, when the service awarded contracts of US$2 million each to Boeing and Northrop Grumman for a 15-month concept-exploration program.
  Design considerations for a naval UCAV included dealing with the corrosive salt-water environment, deck handling for launch and recovery, integration with command and control systems, and operation in a carrier's high electromagnetic interference environment. The Navy was also interested in using their UCAVs for reconnaissance missions, penetrating protected airspace to identify targets for the attack waves.
  The Navy went on to give Northrop Grumman a contract for a naval UCAV demonstrator with the designation of "X-47A Pegasus", in early 2001. The Pegasus was rolled out on 30 July 2001 and performed its first flight on 23 February 2003 at the US Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake, California.
caption: X-47A Pegasus
exif: {}