Photos: Unmanned vehicles take to air, land and sea

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman is forging ahead with work on a strike-fighter-sized, fixed-wing UAV called the X-47B, which is expected to be the first of its kind to take off and land from an aircraft carrier at sea. The Navy recently signed off on a $635.8 million contract to complete the project by 2013. Northrup Grumman plans to build two of the vehicles, with the first slated for take-off in late 2009. A larger version of the earlier proof-of-concept X-47A, the new planes are expected to be able to climb to more than 40,000 feet, to carry 4,500 pounds of equipment and to do everything from intelligence-gathering to time-sensitive targeting and attacks.