Northrop grumman's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) completed its first carrier-based arrested landing when it touched down aboard the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) on 10 July and caught the ship's number three wire with its tailhook. Following its take-off from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, the X-47B flew a 35-minute transit to the carrier, which was operating off the coast of Virginia, and following several precision approaches made an autonomous arrested landing. The aircraft makes its approaches autonomously, without human interference. Following the landing the UCAS-D carried out a catapult launch and then a second arrested landing. During a third approach to the carrier the X-47B self-detected a navigation computer anomaly that caused the air vehicle to transit to an assigned shore-based divert landing site. It recovered safely at the NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility in Chincoteague, Virginia.
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