X-47B Passes Catapult Test, Looks to Carrier Launch

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the Internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The X-47B successfully completed its first shore-based tests at NAS Patuxent River, Defense Tech reports.  The tests determined the aircraft structurally sound and aeromechanically successful using the U.S. Navy’s current steam catapult system.

The Navy anticipates launching the X-47B unmanned aerial vehicle from a carrier next year depending upon the operational deployments of the ships, Defense Daily reports. (paywall)

The Senate votes Monday evening, Dec. 3 to end debate on the defense authorization bill , reports The Hill. At 5:30 p.m. Monday, the Senate will decide whether to advance the National Defense Authorization Act — something lawmakers in the chamber spent most of the week amending.

A New York Times analysis of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program details disagreements between the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin over cost-cutting and the push is on to get more foreign orders to help pay for the program.

Aviation Week reports that the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin settled on roughly $3.8 billion for the next batch of F-35 fighters.  The Air Force is sticking to its plan to buy nearly 1,800 F-35 jets.

Companies that will be affected by sequestration are making few changes to prepare for it, says a Defense News analysis.

Drones flying from civilian airports are plagued by setbacks, a Washington Post reports says, while Pentagon and law enforcement agencies are asking the FAA to open U.S.civil airspace to surveillance drones.

FlightGlobal reports Dassault announced its first flight of the Neuron, an unmanned combat air vehicle developed among six European partners:  Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi, Sweden’s Saab, Spain’s EADS-CASA, Greece’s HAI, Switzerland’s RUAG, France’s Thales.

The U.S. intelligence community  must immediately implement methods to validate the mountains of data generated by the information age and process it in a useful and accessible manner, according to a study reported by Government Executive.