The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman have conducted the Navy's first catapult launch of an unmanned aircraft on Thursday, marking the first of a series of shore-based catapult-to-flight tests over the next few weeks. Using the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator, the Navy's UCAS Carrier Demonstration program plans to catapult the aircraft from a ship base, making history, next year. Mike Mackey, UCAS-D program director for Northrop Grumman, said, "Today's successful launch is another critical milestone in the carrier-stability testing phase of the UCAS-D program." The test was conducted at a shore-based catapult facility at Naval Air Station...