X-47B Drone First Autonomous Aerial Refueling - Military UAV’s Historic Milestone

The X-47B successfully conducted the first ever Autonomous Aerial Refueling (AAR) of an unmanned aircraft April 22, completing the final test objective under the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System demonstration program. The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) designed for carrier-based operations. Developed by Northrop Grumman, the X-47 project began as part of DARPA’s J-UCAS program, and is now part of the United States Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) pr