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May 14th, 2013 
Peter Nolan 
This is one of the Navy’s two X-47B demonstrator aircraft, seen in the hangar bay of the carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77).
(Credit:
U.S. Navy photo)
The X-47B prototype on Tuesday flew off an aircraft carrier and into the history books.
Today’s achievement, the first-ever catapult launch of an unmanned aircraft from the flight deck of a carrier, promises to open up a new chapter in the annals of naval aviation.
The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator launched from the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush at 11:18 a.m. ET off the coast of Maryland. It executed several planned low approaches to the carrier and safely transited across the Chesapeake Bay to land at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., after an approximately 65-minute flight.
Although “combat” is part of the aircraft’s full designation, the X-47B is not intended to fly in harm’s way. Rather, it’s purpose is to prove a point: that unmanned aircraft can share the crowded, hectic flight deck of a carrier with traditional piloted planes, and that they can be integrated into naval flight operations, period.
Over the better part of the last decade, the Navy has spent $1.8 billion on the X-47B prototype, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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