Quote:
Originally posted by KevinP73
OK another amature Q. I can imagine over land the craft will "know" where the ground is. But when you have a moving deck, How does it know "where" the deck is ? How would you keep the craft from slamming into a rapidly rising deck?
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Good question...the aircraft is contolled via either a UHF link or a high band data link called a TCDL (imagery and other data is sent down the link as well). The aircraft also has redundant GPS receivers as well.
The operator doesn't have stick and rudder control of the aircraft, all control is done with a mouse and the operator points and clicks where he wants the aircraft to go.
For shipboard landing, the operator positions the aircraft to intercept a stabilized beam from a landing system on the ship. The aircratf rides this "beam" down the glide slope to what we call a "High Perch". Once the deck is stable, the operator commands the aircraft to land.
The event pictures is the first in a series of dynamic ship testing that will get progressively more difficult.