UCAV Reunites F-35 Team.

In an attempt to catapult themselves into a competitive position in the U.S. Department of Defense's contest to design and build what could amount to hundreds of unmanned combat aircraft for the U.S. Navy and Air Force, Northrop Grumman Corp. has teamed with Lockheed Martin Corp. to re-create the team that won the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Primarily, the plan is to develop a stealthy aircraft that launches about "when the Sun goes down" and scours the battlefield "all night" for targets and information making full use of its 812 hour mission endurance time. Northrop Grumman will first produce two full-scale X-47B unmanned combat aircraft for the Navy under a current technology demonstration program.