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It was the US military鈥檚 latest foray into the realm of robotic warfare: The first time an automated drone has landed on an aircraft carrier.

The event was monumental enough to draw some of the top US military officials from the Pentagon to the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia to watch.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not often that you get a chance to see the future, but that鈥檚 what we got to do today,鈥� Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said after the drone deployed its tail hook and stuck its landing. 鈥淭his is an amazing day for aviation.鈥澛�

The Navy鈥檚 successful landing Wednesday of its bat wing-shaped X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle (known in the latest military parlance as a UCAS) was 鈥渉istoric,鈥� says Peter Singer, director of the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

The landing of any aircraft on an aircraft carrier 鈥渋s arguably one of the most difficult, challenging tasks for a human pilot to perform,鈥� he adds. 鈥淔or an unmanned system to do it 鈥� and to do it in a remote operation 鈥� is a really big deal.鈥澛�

The question now is how the Navy will use it. 鈥淣ow that we鈥檝e proven that unmanned systems can take off and land on an aircraft carrier, we have to answer, what will be their role?鈥� Mr. Singer says.

The first Predator and Reaper drones, now used in Afghanistan, were envisioned as scouting tools. But it was not long before the US military 鈥渕oved [the drone] into a far more lethal role,鈥� he says.

The X-47B could be an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) vehicle 鈥渨ith light-strike capabilities,鈥� he adds, or it could be paired with manned aircraft.

What top military leadership decides will form the crux of 鈥渘aval doctrine moving forward,鈥� Singer says.

What is clear is that the UCAS 鈥渃an fly into space where you wouldn鈥檛 want to send a manned system, and it has a long [flight] duration, which allows you to do a lot more things,鈥� he notes.聽

These are aspects that may be competitive with the perpetually overpriced and under-delivering F-35 stealth fighter jet, he says.聽

Indeed, the X-47B may find that it is competitive with the F-35 fighter jet in terms of its reach and abilities at a time when the service鈥檚 budget for unmanned aerial vehicles is being cut by 24 percent.

But the budget pluses of the drones 鈥� and the great expense of the F-35 鈥� may further drive the military鈥檚 move toward high-performing drones.

Such moves are already happening in other realms. The US Marines are using robotic helicopters for cargo delivery in Afghanistan, for example. That could be a cue to say, 鈥淲ait, we can do those things at sea,鈥� Singer says.聽

Then the question becomes, he adds, 鈥淚s technology ending the central role of humans at war and at sea?鈥�