Here's the X-47B Being Hoisted Onto an Aircraft Carrier

It looks like a UFO, flies without a pilot, and has ignited a debate over whether robots are the future of military aviation. Now the X-47B demonstrator drone is about to get some serious real-world testing.

Yesterday the U.S. Navy released footage of its crews hoisting an X-47B, covered up like a Camaro going into storage for the winter, onto the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. The Navy says that the Truman will become the first aircraft carrier to test an unmanned aircraft once the X-47B begins its carrier deck handling operations.

This is no puny spy drone?the X-47B is a subsonic aircraft and is as large as the Navy's current manned strike fighters. Nor is the X-47B piloted by a human back at base. Operators can give commands to the aircraft, but it can execute them on its own.

The first X-47B demonstrator flew back in February 2011. These aircraft carrier tests are another step on the way to proving an unmanned aircraft potential to take over for those fighters.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/heres-the-x-47b-being-hoisted-onto-an-aircraft-carrier-14789025?src=rss

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