Northrop Air Drone Receives BOWN Award

The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System, which was developed by the Northrop Grumman Corporation and the United States Navy, has just been awarded the 2011 Best of What's New (BOWN) award in the Aviation & Space category of Popular Science magazine.

Officials at Northrop are very pleased about getting this nod, since it marks the third time when the company received the BOWN award in just a decade. There are currently only two prototypes of X-47B in existence, both used for the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration project.

“The UCAS-D team is delighted to have the X-47B recognized for its innovative design and capabilities by Popular Science, one of the world's most prestigious science and technology magazines,” explains US Navy UCAS program manager, Capt. Jaime Engdahl.

The aircraft is derived from the X-47A vehicle, which was also awarded a BOWN award back in 2002. The latter was developed by Northrop in cooperation with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).