page_title: Unmanned combat aerial vehicle
section_title: J-UCAS
hierarchical_section_title: Unmanned combat aerial vehicle / Future models / J-UCAS
caption_attribution_description: English: The first X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator completed its sixth flight on Dec. 19, 2002, raising its landing gear in flight for the first time. The X-45A flew for 40 minutes and reached an airspeed of 195 knots and an altitude of 7,500 feet. Dryden is supporting the DARPA/Boeing team in the design, development, integration, and demonstration of the critical technologies, processes, and system attributes leading to an operational UCAV system. Dryden support of the X-45A demonstrator system includes analysis, component development, simulations, ground and flight tests.
context_page_description: An unmanned combat aerial vehicle, also known as a combat drone, is an unmanned aerial vehicle that usually carries aircraft ordnance such as missiles, ATGMs, and/or bombs and is used for drone strikes. These drones are usually under real-time human control, with varying levels of autonomy.
  Aircraft of this type have no onboard human pilot. As the operator runs the vehicle from a remote terminal, equipment necessary for a human pilot is not needed, resulting in a lower weight and a smaller size than a manned aircraft. Many countries have operational domestic UCAVs and many more have imported armed drones or have development programs underway.
context_section_description: Boeing X-45 UCAV (TD)
  Northrop-Grumman X-47 Pegasus
  Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems, or J-UCAS, was the name for the joint U.S. Navy/U.S. Air Force unmanned combat air vehicle procurement project. J-UCAS was managed by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the J-UCAS program was terminated. The program would have used stealth technologies and allowed UCAVs to be armed with precision-guided weapons such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) or precision miniature munitions, such as the Small-Diameter Bomb, which are used to suppress enemy air defenses. Controllers could have used real-time data sources, including satellites, to plan for and respond to changes on and around the battlefield.
  The program was later revitalized into UCAS-D, a United States Navy program designed to develop a carrier-based unmanned aircraft.
caption: J-UCAS Boeing X-45A UCAV technology demonstrator
exif: {}