The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) developed by the American defense technology company 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 UCAS-D (Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration) program, which aims to create a carrier-based unmanned aircraft. It is intended that the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike System (UCLASS) will enter service in 2019. The X-47B first flew in 2011, and as of 2013, it is undergoing flight testing, having successfully completed a series of land- and carrier-based demonstrations.

The Navy plans to carry out the first catapult takeoff of its new X-47B unmanned plane from an aircraft carrier next month and other shipboard tests despite mandatory budget cuts this year, according to the admiral who runs the programs.

Rear Admiral Mathias Winter, program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, said Northrop Grumman Corp's X-47B program and other unmanned aircraft programs should survive the fiscal 2013 budget cuts largely intact because they are still early in development.

But the Navy may buy fewer unmanned planes and helicopters in coming years unless Congress reverses budget cuts required over the next decade,

The Pentagon is already implementing $487 billion in cuts from planned spending levels over the next decade, but under a 2010 law, must cut spending by an additional $500 billion.

Top Navy leaders have identified unmanned systems, including aircraft, ground vehicles and undersea vehicles, as their No. 1 priority, and several unmanned U.S. Navy airplanes are nearing key milestones next month. Those include the first catapult takeoff from a Navy aircraft carrier, the first landing on a carrier and the first flight of a new high altitude spy plane X-51A.

Triton, which is similar to the Global Hawk plane Northrop builds for the Air Force, is scheduled to have its first flight in May, with officials aiming to declare the system ready for combat in 2017. The demonstrator aircraft built for that program logged its 10,000th flight hour last week, with 96 percent of those hours in operational use, Winter said.

He said the Navy was focused on a few key programs: the X-47B, which will be followed by a competition for an unmanned carrier-based plane in 2014; the MQ-4C Triton; the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, and RQ-21A, a smaller unmanned surveillance plane being developed by Boeing for the Marine Corps.

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