Video: The future of naval aviation

This is a clip from FutureWeapons documenting the Northrop Grumman X-47B UCAS (Unmanned Combat Air System). Recent advances in robotics, sensors and artificial intelligence are used to engineer a drone aircraft that can perform naval missions and land on aircraft carriers autonomously. To develop this system, virtual prototyping and simulations are linked to actual aircraft control system hardware so engineers are able to monitor how the computer will operate the aircraft. This will ensure that the robot will perform as expected before it is built.