Here’s The Best Military Drones From Around The World

Northrop Grumann X-47B

Perhaps one day, we will look back on the X-47B as something of a pioneer – if not a guinea pig. The unmanned combat air system is designed to help the U.S. Navy look forward decades down the line to an entire fleet of carrier-based demonstration UAV. The designers refer to it as, “a tailless, strike fighter-sized unmanned aircraft”.

It has already completed its initial flight, the first-ever autonomous aerial refuel (from an Omega K707 tanker), and its first launch and land from a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The prototypes were supposed to be retired by now and displayed in a museum, but the Department of Defense has extended their lifeline for further testing. The X-47B is 38 feet long with a 62-foot wingspan (31 feet when folded) and can reach speeds upwards of 700 miles per hour.

Northrop Grumann X-47B: $405 million per unit