The X-47, an experimental unmanned “combat air system,” has been hoisted onto the USS Truman for “carrier deck handling tests.”  Presumably, these tests do not yet include carrier launches or landings (though a catapult launch on a land-based site has already occurred, complete with PR video).

Current generation unmanned vehicles essentially began their lives as surveillance assets and were modified to carry weapons.  The progeny of the X-47 will be combat attack vehicles by design, and may even have autonomous capabilities.

Observers will be forgiven if their first thought is “Skynet.”