The U.S. Navy has just proudly announced that the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator completed its first-ever carrier-based arrested landing on board USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia.
After a series of blue-water ops, including touch and gos and catapult launch, Jul. 10, 2013 will be remembered as the historic day when manned and unmanned aircraft were integrated on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
“We have certainly come a long way in the 102 years since Eugene Ely made the first arrested landing aboard an aircraft carrier. Naval aviators have always been at the forefront of operational and tactical innovation, and today was no exception,” said said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
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Image credit: U.S. Navy
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