A fight-sized drone was test-launched yesterday from a US aircraft carrier in the Atlantic, paving the way for America to launch unmanned aircraft just about everywhere around the world.
“As our access to overseas ports, forward operating locations and airspace is diminished around the world, the value of the aircraft carrier and the air wing becomes more and more important. So today is history,” said Rear Adm. Ted Branch, commander of Naval Air Forces Atlantic.
The X-47B drone is the first drone designed to take off the aircraft carrier’s deck, meaning the US won’t need permissions from other countries to use their bases amid growing criticism of its operations to gather intelligence and assassinate human targets with precise missile strikes across the globe.
Many anti-drone activists have been accusing US-operated Predators and Reapers of countless civilian killings.
The X-47B drone won’t be operational, experts say. Its main goal is to help the Navy develop future carrier-based drones, which are expected to be deployed by 2020.
The new unmanned aircraft is much bigger than the Predator, has three times the range and can be programmed to carry out missions with no human intervention, the Navy said. Unlike Predators, it relies solely on computer programs and doesn’t need to be operated piloted via remote control, although a human operator can step in at any moment. It is also capable of carrying weapons and costs some $1.4 billion to build.
During its Tuesday test-flight, the X-47B used a steam catapult to launch, made two low approaches toward the aircraft carrier and successfully landed at the air station using a tailhook to catch a cable and bring it to a quick stop.
Human Rights Watch has expressed its concern by what it called a trend toward the development of fully autonomous weapons that can choose and fire upon targets with no human intervention.
Ọmọ Oódua News From Nigeria, VoR, Huffington Post
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