"[1] The first generation of unmanned combat air vehicles are primarily planned for air-to-ground roles with defensive air-to-air capabilities coupled with significant remote piloting.

On April 18, 2004, the X-45A's first bombing run test at Edwards Air Force Base was successful; it hit a ground target with a 250-pound (110 kg) inert precision-guided munition.

The X-45As then autonomously determined which vehicle held the optimum position, weapons (notional), and fuel load to properly attack the target.

[2] This demonstrated the ability of these vehicles to work autonomously as a team and manage their resources, as well as to engage previously-undetected targets, which is significantly harder than following a predetermined attack path.

The X-45C portion of the program received $767 million from DARPA in October 2004, to construct and test three aircraft, along with several supplemental goals.

[5] In July 2005, DARPA awarded an additional $175 million to continue the program, as well as implement autonomous aerial refueling technology.

This Super Hornet is expected to be able to hook the carrier's arrester cables autonomously by the 2009 timeframe,[12] setting the stage for carrier-borne UAV operations.

Boeing planned to develop and demonstrate an unmanned flying test bed for advanced air system technologies.

The internally funded program, called Phantom Ray, uses the X-45C prototype vehicle[13] that Boeing originally developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)/U.S.