The US Navy was working on developing a stealthy, armed, carrier-launched attack drone to enhance maritime force projection. The X-47B, based on the Northrop Grumman-developed X-47B demonstration aircraft, had already achieved a critical milestone by landing autonomously on an aircraft carrier as part of the Navy's Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program. However, the initiative was cancelled after lengthy debate and programmatic consideration. Instead, the Navy created the MQ-25 Stingray, a less stealthy and unarmed refueler drone.<br /><br />In April 2015, the US Navy retired two X-47Bs, known as Salty Dog 501 and Salty Dog 502, representing the most significant advancement in Unmanned Combat Aerial Systems to date. The X-47B, similar to the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, had a blended-wing body with no vertical stabilizer and an air intake for a single Pratt & Whitney F100-220U turbofan engine, the same engine used in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The X-47B had a wingspan of 62 feet and a length of 38 feet, with an empty weight of 14,000 pounds and a maximum takeoff weight of 44,000 pounds.<br /><br />Flight testing for the X-47B began in 2011 and lasted little more than four years. It demonstrated a wide variety of shipboard and non-combat aerial activities, including deck handling, launch and recovery, integration with manned aircraft operations, and in-flight refueling from a manned tanker. The X-47B's capabilities were not validated in contested, high-threat, dynamic environments, and its existing core technologies may still have some way to go before they can sustain autonomous combat missions.<br /><br />The Navy converted the X-47B from a surveillance and attack aircraft to a reconnaissance and aerial refueling drone with "limited strike capability" in February 2016. The MQ-25 Stingray, a less stealthy and unarmed refueling drone, is set to enter the fleet in 2026, but it may not be the type of drone that combat aficionados had in mind.<br />...<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXfHyPWwgOk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXfHyPWwgOk</a>