The U.S. military’s flight toward robotic warfare passed a milestone in February, when the Navy rolled out the X-47B at Edwards Air Force base for its first flight test. The plane, says the promo video above, took off “with the click of a mouse.” It’s raison d’etre: being able to take off and land on an aircraft carrier without human intervention.Designed by Northrop Grumman, it would be capable of carrying out entire missions on its own, taking human orders only when firing on targets. The plane also has air-to-air refuelling capability, lending it almost unlimited endurance so long as a fuel plane is within reach. The prospect gives a whole new meaning to Skynet.The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that patrol the skies over Afghanistan now depend upon human pilots on the ground – and sometimes thousands of miles away, in Nevada – to guide their missions. Current drones also only take off and land only at ground bases, not on carriers, a setting considered to be one of the most challenging in aviation.The roll-out of the X-47B has been delayed for years by engine-related acoustic and starting problems as well as issues related to software complexity. While its unclear when the plane will begin replacing pilots in combat, its cousin, the secret X-37B space plane is already threading loops around the Earth – and specifically, say amateur astronomers who’ve spotted it, over Afghanistan.