Top Gun in the 21st century…new 'stealth' drone

The U.S. Navy launched an unmanned, autonomous aircraft the size of a fighter jet from a warship for the first time Wednesday, a development that could herald the end of Top Gun-style piloted air combat missions.

The X-47B drone is the first designed to operate an aircraft carrier, which allows it to be used around the world without needing permission to take off from airfields in other countries.

Aside from its ability to operate from aircraft carriers, another big difference between the X-47B and previous drones is that it does not need to be piloted by remote control.

Instead, it is controlled by a forearm-mounted box called the Control Display Unit which sends orders to an on-board computer which is able to use artificial intelligence to think for itself, plotting course corrections and charting new directions.

The unmanned drone will be set an objective by a human operator, for example a target to look at or bomb, and then it will navigate its way there using technology such as GPS, autopilot and collision avoidance sensors. Navy officials say the drone will give them around-the-clock intelligence, surveillance and targeting capabilities.

But there are concerns about the legality of what has been dubbed America's “covert drone war”.

Strikes cause widespread civilian deaths and operate with only limited oversight, critics say. Critics have warned the introduction of such AI into military weapons systems is a step towards the development of autonomous killer robots.

The prototype X-47B took off successfully this morning from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush in the Atlantic Ocean off Virginia and made two low approaches to the ship before heading back toward land.

The test aircraft, which has been designed and built by the weapons maker Northrop Grumman, isn't intended for operational use; instead, the military is using the information it gathers during these demonstrations to develop the drone program.

The X-47B can reach an altitude of more than 40,000ft, has a range of more than 2,100 nautical miles and can reach high subsonic speeds, according to the navy.

In the 2014 fiscal year, the Navy plans to demonstrate that the X-47B can be refuelled in flight.

The program cost is $1.4billion over eight years.