ROBOT BOMBER MOVING AHEAD.

Byline: Daily News

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Management of an experimental robot bomber program is shifting ahead of schedule from a Pentagon research agency to the U.S. Air Force and Navy.

The early transition for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems program is a major success and an indicator of the program's importance, Pentagon officials said in an announcement of the shift.

``J-UCAS' unique combat versatility will change our perspective of air-power projection in much the same way that stealth did when it was introduced over 30 years ago,'' said Tony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Managed by DARPA since October 2003, the program now will be run by a joint Air Force/Navy office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, supported by personnel at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and other Navy facilities.

DARPA, the agency that spurred the development of the F-117A stealth fighter, has been working with The Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. to design, build and demonstrate full-scale aircraft and mission control elements.

A common operating system for the aircraft is being developed by the two companies in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

The program's goal is to develop unmanned aircraft that can take on very dangerous missions, such as attacking enemy radar and missile sites, and very dull missions, such as surveillance missions that last for hours.

``The interest in the J-UCAS concept, combined with our joint team's notable successes, have given us the opportunity to rapidly transition the program to the services,'' said Michael S. Francis, J-UCAS program director at DARPA, in an announcement of the transition.

The new program manager is Navy Capt. Ralph N. Alderson, current program manager of the X-45 program.

Edwards was picked in June 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. Two Boeing X-45A aircraft, smaller than the X-45C, have flown more than 50 flight-test missions at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards.

Assembly of the first two X-45C vehicles is under way in St. Louis, Mo. The X-47B aircraft are expected to be assembled in Palmdale.