Drone warfare just entered into a new era. For the first time, the combat system has been launched from an aircraft carrier.
“#USNavy history is made!” the Navy’s official Twitter account declared early Tuesday morning just after the batwing-shaped X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System entered the record books.
Defensetech.org reports: “The drone was catapulted 11:18 a.m. local time from the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia Beach, Va.”
The successful launch of the X is “an inflection point in history on how we will integrate manned and unmanned aircraft on carrier flight decks in the future,” Rear Adm. Mat Winter wrote on the Navy’s official blog.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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