X-45A ROBOT WARPLANE PASSES KEY COMMUNICATION TEST CONTROL SUCCESSFULLY MOVED IN MIDAIR BETWEEN EDWARDS, SEATTLE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - The Pentagon's effort to create an unmanned warplane recently reached a milestone when control of a test aircraft was transferred back and forth between ground stations 900 miles apart, defense officials announced Monday.

During a 46-minute flight on Dec. 9 from Edwards, control of the X-45 jet plane was transferred from an operator at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards to a mission controller for Boeing Co. at Seattle, Wash.

The operator in Seattle controlled the aircraft for approximately six minutes, ordering the jet to change speed or altitude four times, Pentagon officials said.

``This flight was an essential step toward proving the system's capability to smoothly transfer command and control of the air vehicles between mission-control elements,'' said Navy Capt. Ralph N. Alderson, X-45 program manager. ``During future missions, these distributed control elements could be housed on air bases or aircraft carriers around the world.''

The project is a joint effort by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Air Force and the Navy to create unmanned aircraft that can take on tasks that are very dangerous, such as attacking enemy radar and missile sites, or very dull, such as hours-long surveillance.

The military wants 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.

In October, the Pentagon announced that Boeing had won a $766.6 million contract to continue the development and construction of three larger X-45C unmanned combat aircraft.

The X-45C is expected to be 39 feet long, have a 49-foot wingspan, cruise at 560 mph at an altitude of 40,000 feet, carry a 4,500-pound weapons payload and fly a combat radius of more than 1,200 miles.

In 2007, Defense Department officials will begin an assessment of the aircraft. That testing, which could run from 2007 through 2010, will provide information about capabilities to be pursued in follow-on developments.

On Nov. 12 and Dec. 3, two 27-foot-long X-45A aircraft were tested together in coordinated flight controlled by one operator. The first such flight was conducted on Aug. 1.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) An artist's drawing shows one of the 27-foot-long X-45A unmanned combat aerial vehicles or UCAVs that were tested in flights this year.