Mr Richard E. Adams

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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

As an engineer for the Navy, Mr. Adams has made significant contributions to advancing the state of the art in unmanned aviation. As early as 1983, he worked on a study of a carrier-based unmanned high altitude long endurance air vehicle. After working on Airships as the Navy'?’s Technical Expert on LTA design, he worked on the Predator UAV as Air Vehicle Lead Engineer.

Later, in support of DARPA, he was lead Air Vehicle Engineer and Lead Test Engineer for the RQ-4A Global Hawk. The Global Hawk was one of the first highly autonomous UAVs to be fielded, and was awarded the Collier Trophy which resides in the Smithsonian. Mr. Adams received the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award for his work on Global Hawk.
He continues to lead the state of the art in UAVs through his leadership of the X-47A, X45 C/CN and X-47B Naval Unmanned Combat Air Systems. These systems represent the next generation of unmanned aviation.