A few months back, it looked like that the Navy/Northrop-Grumman X-47 CUCAS-D (unmanned combat air system demonstration) was on the chopping block.

This is perhaps the most ambitious UAV currently in development, given that among other things, it’s supposed to make an arrested landing on a carrier deck.

It now appears that in addition to demonstrating combat capabilities and carrier ops, the program has been expanded to include autonomous air-to-air refueling, which will greatly improve the strike capability of the aircraft.

Autonomous refueling has been kind of a holy grail in the UAV community, and is really essential for any system that actually sees operational use.