A video recently posted by the US Navy shows their unmanned X-47B drone executing a breathtaking landing on the USS George H.W Bush, an aircraft carrier in the US Navy.

The X-47B is the first unmanned aircraft to ever achieve the feat of landing on an aircraft carrier. This achievement was by no means easy and took years of planning, preparation and implementation as well as a staggering amount of money in excess of $1.4 billion. Below is a schematic of the cutting-edge aircraft:

The key thing to note about the X-47B is that not only is it unmanned, but it isn’t controlled by any pilot at all — it is completely robotic. The landing on a US Navy carrier was unassisted by any human — remotely or otherwise. That is what makes this such an amazing feat.

The two current X-47B aircraft will be retired but the technology used to construct them will be implemented in the Navy’s current fleet of drones. They hope that the aircraft will begin duties in about 3 – 6 years time.

This technology — for better or worse — has the potential to drastically change the face of war even further than it has already. Check out the video below.

[via Gizmodo, images via Navy Live, Gizmodo]