The Navy conducted its first-ever catapult launch of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier May 14. The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator took off from the carrier George H.W. Bush at 11:18 a.m. off the Virginia coast, flew for 65 minutes, and landed safely at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. "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," said Vice Adm. David Buss, the commander of Naval Air Forces. The Navy plans to continue flight tests for the near future, including an arrested landing on the carrier’s pitching deck.
