US Navy Launches Drone From An Aircraft Carrier For The First Time

Navy’s Historic Drone Launch From An Aircraft Carrier Has an Asterisk -- Danger Room

ABOARD THE U.S.S. GEORGE H.W. BUSH — At 11:19 a.m. today, for the first time in history, a plane without a pilot in it executed one of the most complex missions in aviation: launching off an aircraft carrier at sea. Only the Navy can’t yet land that drone aboard the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush, an even harder but necessary maneuver if large drones are really going to operate off carriers.

On a crisp, bright and nearly cloudless day, about 100 miles off the Virginia coast, the crew of the Bush and the team behind the highly autonomous X-47B loaded up the deck’s second catapult with the drone and shot it off into the sky above the eastern Atlantic. The drone — which has its own callsign, “Salty Dog 502″ — turned downwind and passed over the ship twice, first from 1000 feet overhead and then from 60 feet overhead, before flying back to dry land in Maryland. The launch went exactly as the Navy hoped.

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More News On Today's US Navy Drone Launch From An Aircraft Carrier

X-47 Unmanned Aircraft Makes Successful Launch -- Navy Times
Naval Air Forces Commander Calls X-47B Catapult Launch from USS George H.W. Bush a Pivotal Moment in Naval Aviation -- Navy.mil
Navy Makes History With Unmanned Carrier Launch -- USNI
U.S. Navy makes aviation history with carrier drone launch -- Reuters
Navy launches unmanned aircraft from carrier for first time -- FOX News/AP
US drone catapults off a carrier: Navy -- AFP
Navy's X-47B drone completes first carrier takeoff -- NBC News
Navy launches unmanned warplane off carrier Bush -- Virginian Pilot
Navy catapults drone from aircraft carrier -- CNN
The Navy's X-47B stealth drone just took off from an aircraft carrier -- Killer Apps/Foreign Policy
Drone is catapulted off aircraft carrier in milestone flight test -- L.A. Times
X-47B Completes a Carrier Takeoff -- Popular Mechanics
Inside The Navy's Historic Embrace Of At-Sea Combat Drones -- Fast Company
X-47B makes historic carrier launch -- CNet News
Navy Catches the Drone Bug -- Wall Street Journal
The case for sea-based drones -- David Axe, Reuters
X-47B: Navy Drone Launches Off Aircraft Carrier; A New Tailhook Era -- Breaking Defense

Update: YouTube: Five videos of the first X-47B carrier-based launch and landing.