Object Details
- Physical Description
- Jet-powered, "stealthy" Combat Aerial Vehicle. Designed specifically for offensive combat operations above the battlefield. One of two technology demonstration aircraft for the Joint Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (later Air System) program.
- Summary
- First flown in 2002, the X-45A was the first modern UAV designed specifically for combat strike missions. The stealthy, swept-wing jet has fully retractable landing gear and a composite, fiber-reinforced epoxy skin. Its fuselage houses two internal weapons bays. The X-45 project was first managed by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, but in 2003 the Air Force and Navy consolidated the X-45 and X-47 programs under the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System Office.
- This X-45A, named The Elsie May, accomplished several firsts during testing. Among them: the first autonomous flight of a high-performance, combat-capable UAV; the first weapons release from an autonomous UAV; and, with Air Vehicle #2, the first autonomous multi-vehicle coordinated flight. Only two X-45A scaled-down technology demonstrators were built. Flight tests successfully concluded in 2005.
- Credit Line
- Transferred from the U.S. Air Force
- 2004
- Inventory Number
- A20070231000
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- CRAFT-Aircraft
- Materials
- Aluminum, carbon fiber, steel, copper, plastic, glass, paint, rubber
- Dimensions
- 3-D: 957.6 × 203.2cm, 3818.4kg, 10.312m (31 ft. 5 in. × 6 ft. 8 in., 8418lb., 33 ft. 10 in.)
- Span: 10.31m (33 ft 8 in)
- Length: 8.03m (26 ft 5 in)
- Height: 1.13 m (3 ft 7 in)
- Weight (empty): 3,629 kg (8,000 lb)
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- National Air and Space Museum
- Record ID
- nasm_A20070231000
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv9a7dac599-44b8-417e-a59f-68f41152cbef
