The image above has been splashed all over the net over the last week. It looks like a scene out of The Flight Of The Navigator, but really, that tarp could be hiding the future of American air power.
Earlier this week, the badass X-47B drone became the first ever unmanned aircraft to refuel while in the air. Think about how cool this is, the drone has to meet the KC-707 tanker plane in the air, position itself perfectly to snatch onto the fuel line and then gas itself up with no one on board. So freaking cool.
The Navy’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle demonstrator has added yet another huge feat to its long list of incredible accomplishments, which includes operating from an aircraft carrier. This time, it has demonstrated the first step in autonomous aerial refueling, plugging into a aerial refueling basket behind an …
We've already seen impressive footage of the first ever carrier drone jet launch, the X-47B. But nothing comes close to this short documentary, with extraordinary photography, edition, and sound design that make for an amazing cinematic experience. I wish all aviation shorts were this elegant and immersive.
This looks like a scene from a sci-fi game or movie, but it's actually a photo from one of the latest tests of the X-47B unmanned combat aircraft on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The US Navy is getting really close to the future, people: Combat drones launched automatically from motherships.
The days of piloted combat aircraft are quickly coming to an end, soon to be heavily augmented if not outright replaced by UCAS, or Unmanned Combat Air Systems. Just yesterday, the Navy's X-47B demonstrator proved that manned and unmanned operations can take place on the same flight deck.
The Northrop Grumman X-47B carrier-launched drone really feels like the future of aviation in this image taken on board the USS Harry Truman. And, while it looks like some alien spaceship from a sci-fi show, these beasts will completely replace those F-18s in a couple of decades.
One of the most sophisticated drones the world has ever seen landed on an aircraft carrier Wednesday afternoon, wowing the socks off the top brass and changing war as we know it.
It's not often that we get to witness aviation history being made, but when we do, it's often awesome. Such is the case with the U.S. Navy's X-47B which just became the first unmanned aircraft to land on an aircraft carrier.
This is China's stealth combat drone, an airplane that seems very similar to the American Northrop Grumman X-47B. The unmanned combat air vehicle was photographed while performing taxiing tests. Given the development speed of China's other military airplanes, it wouldn't be surprising to see this in flight in the next…
You are about to witness a historical event: the first drone jet ever launched from an aircraft carrier. In a few decades, when autonomous drone planes battle each other in the skies, fire missiles at drone troops and battleships, humanity will look back at this day as the true beginning of total drone warfare.
Witness, the beginning of a new era: the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System on the flight deck of the USS Harry S. Truman. Soon, there will be no more Maverick or Ice Man. In a couple of decades, everything will be stealthy, autonomous or remote controlled war creatures, much more cost-effective than their expensive…
As the role UAVs in the US military expands, the demands placed on these unmanned platforms grow as well. One of the most important new abilities these autonomous fliers must have is the ability to land atop a thin strip of tarmac rolling on the high seas. And that's just what the new Northrop Grumman X-47B will do.
When this happened in Kansas in broad daylight, people gathered along the road to watch in awe what they thought could be a UFO transported by the military. Yesterday evening the same scene caused a frenzy in Washington DC's highways.
X-47B, all ice, no man. The deadliest drone in the US arsenal, a stealth killer. I have seen dozens of photos. Videos too, of its first test and its cruise test. But I've never seen it from the top.
An UFO was seen on top of a military truck four days ago travelling down US 77, said residents of Cowley County, Kansas. They thought the military were trying to haul an alien spaceship wrapped in plastic. In plain sight.
UAV's are big, but they're not jet big—something the Navy's trying to correct with its X-47B, which aims to replace traditional fighters. Y'know, the ones with humans in them. Watch the drone killer stretch its wings a little.
After completing its first flight on February 4 at Edwards AFB, here is a new video showing the US Navy's X-47B Unmanned Combat Airplane up close and personal, including shots of its air intake, weapons bays and a brief look of the ground-based control system.
Northrop Grumman's X-47B is ready. On Friday it completed a 29 minute test flight over Edwards Air Force Base, managing to land "right on the centerline" of the runway. Without having a pilot onboard. [YouTube via Aviation Week]
Northrop Grumman's X-47B is getting closer to flight. The 62.1-foot wingspan unmanned aerial vehicle may populate all US Navy's aircraft carriers by the end of the decade. [Flight Global]
