EDWARDS TAPPED FOR TESTING OF NEW-LINE ROBOT BOMBERS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Edwards Air Force Base has been picked for testing a new generation of experimental robot bombers.

The joint unmanned combat air systems program (J-UCAS) picked the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards for the initial testing of three X-45C aircraft, being built by Boeing, and three X-47Bs, being built by a team led by Northrop Grumman.

Later, the aircraft will be sent to Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., for an assessment of their fighting capabilities.

The site selection was made after a combined Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, Air Force and Navy team evaluated several installations, said Michael Francis, DARPA's J-UCAS director.

``Details of activities at each location will be finalized over the coming months,'' Francis said.

The J-UCAS program is a joint effort by DARPA, the Pentagon agency that financed the early development of the stealth fighter; the Air Force and the Navy to develop unmanned aircraft that can take on very dangerous missions, such as attacking enemy radar and missle sites, as well as lower-level tasks, such as surveillance missions that last for hours.

Program officials want stealthy, unmanned aircraft that can be launched either from land or an aircraft carrier and that can fly 1,500 miles carrying 4,500 pounds of weapons and electronic gear.

The first X-45C, being built in St. Louis, is expected to be completed in 2006. The first flight is planned for early 2007.

Boeing has designed an aircraft that will be 39 feet long with a 49-foot wingspan.

Two X-45A aircraft built by Boeing for the program have flown more than 50 flight-test missions at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards. Northrop Grumman announced that construction of the first X-47B component, the forward fuselage, is under way at its partner GKN Aerospace's St. Louis plant. Final assembly of the first X-47B is slated to begin in August at Northrop Grumman's Palmdale plant at Air Force Plant 42 in August.

Construction of the first aircraft is expected to be completed in early 2007. The first flight will be in mid- or late 2007, said Northrop Grumman spokesman Tim Paynter.

Northrop Grumman's other partners include Lockheed Martin and Pratt and Whitney.

The X-47B will be just over 38 feet long and will have a wingspan of just 62 feet. The wings can be folded to reduce the width to 30 feet.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com