Last week Boeing and US Army have conducted tests of a new super-weapon of United States Air force – unmanned combat air vehicle [UCAV] X-45. CNN eagerly reports that tests went without a hitch: the plane took off of Edwards air force base, made a big circle at the speeds of 400 km/h, and have landed back on ground – completely autonomously.

    The technology is not so new: for example, during the ongoing middle east conflict, United States military uses unmanned propeller-powered reconnaissance airplane, the Predator, which, if memory serves well, has stumbled generals into thinking they were playing a virtual reality computer game. The new X-45 will be able to conduct reconnaissance missions, however it will also be able to carry quite a lot of firepower onboard: bombs, missiles, bullets and flyers. It will cost ten times less than a modern manned jet-bomber [about 10-15 million dollars], and will be used to disable [read: blow up into f*cking pieces] enemy’s anti-aircraft defenses.

    X-45 looks like a cross between a “stealth” bomber and the yacht of princess Amidala from “Episode II”: smooth, and without a tail. Plus, the X-45 is portable: unscrewing wings off of it allows it to be placed in a compact container for transporting. Be sure to check out concept-art section: Boeing designers have definitely seen same movies as we did, except they made slightly different conclusions from them.

    X-45 will begin serving the military somewhere in the vicinity of 2007-2010. If you see a something flying outside your window, looking like a small white boomerang, try to hit it down with some rocks.