X-47B: Navy Test Flies It's First Unmanned Stealth Bomber

When it comes to predator drones and the next generation of unmanned aircraft, I am torn. There's a part of me that likes that an American life doesn't have to be threatened in the air to attack targets on the ground. Then there's a part of me that wonders about the moral implications of unmanned machines waging wars in a Terminator sort of way--after all machines don't have a conscious to determine right and wrong on a battlefield like a soldier does.

The machine is programmed to carry about a mission, and while this generation of machines have human operators in remote locations, the question of what will become of this in the future remains. With that said, the Navy just completed its first test flight of their first unmanned stealth bomber. Here's video from the flight.



The aircraft is described as slightly smaller than the current generation stealth bombers used by the Air Force and stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Unlike the Air Force stealth bomber, the X-47B can take off from an aircraft carrier.