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First Successful Unmanned Drone Landing On an Aircraft Carrier

Posted by samzenpus on from the let-the-computer-do-it dept.

redletterdave writes "Salty Dog 502 flew from the Patuxent River Naval Station in Maryland to the USS George H.W. Bush operating off the Virginian coast, but unlike other drones, Salty Dog was piloted entirely by computer without a human operator. The unmanned operation is considered one of the most difficult operations due to navigating the air and a moving ship, and many have said it's a major milestone in the development of drone warfare. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus described the event as witnessing the future and compared it to the first manned aircraft landed on a carrier in 1911."

7 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. The claim of first drone landing is incorrect ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    G.W. Bush landed on a carrier years before this.

    1. Re:The claim of first drone landing is incorrect ! by Cryacin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Don't insult the drones. They have a far greater reaching spread of abilities and a much more complicated and adaptable intelligence engine.

      --
      Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
  2. Re:just wait... by Dorianny · · Score: 5, Informative

    landed on a perfect clear day. wonder what happens when the seas are rough, the deck is pitching, and MOVLAS is rigged......

    The first manned aircraft landing on a ship was also done on a perfect clear day after several weather driven delays.

  3. guiding system by Dorianny · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The real question in my opinion is what kind of guiding system do the drones use. Flying by radar guidance is something that we have been doing for a long time, surface to air or air to air missiles use it to lock on a stay on target, unfortunately flying with active radar turned on you are putting a bullseye on yourself that makes it trivial for a enemy with any kind of air defenses to easily track it and shoot it down. Flying with visual guidance is considerably harder (by visual guidance I don't mean simply terrain contour matching to figure out its current location like the tomahawk). Most don't appreciate just how fast the human brain is in quickly figuring out and processing relevant information in the insane amount of visual data that enters our retinas every instant. Computers are nowhere near as good yet.

    1. Re:guiding system by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      Just a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if it used stereoscopic vision to assess in figuring out the Z-plane and not just the X,Y. From there, it can infer the geometry and angle of approach of the carrier it's about to land on.

      Furthermore, a carrier deck has markings and lights at precisely known locations. Just by tracking any three of these points, plus the GAIL (glide angle indicator light), the vision system should have enough information to nail the landing. This landing is a notable achievement, but I don't think the vision system was the hard part.

  4. Re: just wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Similarly, the first human heavier than air flight. That's why aviation has no future whatsoever.

  5. Re:Dumbass title is dumbass by MindCrusher · · Score: 5, Informative

    Maybe because it clearly states WITHOUT A HUMAN OPERATOR.