In what Vice Admiral David Buss, Commander, Naval Air Forces called a “watershed event,” the U.S. Air Force X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator was catapulted for the first time from the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier off the coast of Virginia this week. After a 65-minute flight, which included several low approaches to the carrier, the X-47B landed at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.
“Today we saw a small but significant pixel in the future picture of our Navy as we begin integration of unmanned systems into arguably the most complex warfighting environment that exists today; the flight deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier,” Boss said.
