US drone makes first catapult launch off a carrier

US: The US Navy successfully launched an unmanned plane off the deck of an aircraft carrier for the first time Tuesday, in what officials called a breakthrough for robotic aviation.

The bat-winged X-47B drone took to the air after being launched by a catapult aboard the George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier off the coast of Virginia, a Navy spokeswoman said.

“I can confirm it was successfully launched at 11:18 am (1518 GMT),” Navy Lieutenant Katie Cerezo told AFP.

The aircraft carried out several low approaches to the carrier before landing in Maryland at the US naval air station at Patuxent River after a 65-minute flight, the Navy said.

The test flight marked the first catapult launch of a robotic, unmanned plane from a carrier at sea, and Navy officers called it a “milestone.” “This historic event challenges the paradigm of manned carrier landings that were first conducted more than 90 years ago,” Rear Admiral Mat Winter, who oversees unmanned aviation for the Navy, wrote on the service's website.

The experimental aircraft, which looks like a smaller version of the B-2 stealth bomber, is supposed to clear the way for a new line of drones that would carry out bombing raids from a carrier.

The Air Force and Army already have a large fleet of robotic aircraft but the Navy hopes to catch up with the X-47B, the unmanned Fire Scout helicopter and other drones that can stay in the air for hours to spy or attack an adversary.

AFP