The U.S. Navy has ordered another eight Virginia class SSNs

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth

No. X-47B carries the same A2G payload of a VLO'd F-35. With more than double the radius. At approximately 1/4 of the purchase cost, and MUCH reduced operational upkeep costs (no burning jet fuel to train "the man in the loop" for basic flight competency, night flight competency, tactical competency etc.).

Acutally, the X-47B currently carries nothing. It rolled out a few weeks ago, so there is a long way to go before we see it in action. Aside from the radius, the performance of the X-47 is inferior to any manned fighter or strike aircraft. Once again, we see that you cannot achieve air superiority with a drone at this time. Also, yes, it is expensive to train a human to fly, but there is currently no real replacement for having a brain in the cockpit.