A X47-B Navy Drone is launched from the deck of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Coast of Virginia Wednesday, July 10, 2013. It is the first landing by a drone on a Navy carrier. The landing of the X-47B experimental aircraft means the Navy can move forward with its plans to develop another unmanned aircraft that will join the fleet alongside traditional airplanes to provide around-the-clock surveillance while also possessing a strike capability. A X47-B Navy drone touches down as it lands aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Coast of Virginia Wednesday, July 10, 2013. A X47-B Navy drone is launched off the deck of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Coast of Virginia Wednesday, July 10, 2013. It is the first landing buy a drone on a Navy carrier. A X47-B Navy drone approaches the deck as it lands aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Coast of Virginia Wednesday, July 10, 2013. Navy crew members manually list the tailhook of A X47-B Navy after it landed aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Coast of Virginia Wednesday, July 10, 2013. The landing of the X-47B experimental aircraft means the Navy can move forward with its plans to develop another unmanned aircraft that will join the fleet alongside traditional airplanes to provide around-the-clock surveillance while also possessing a strike capability. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) ABOARD THE USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (AP) - The Navy successfully landed a drone the size of a fighter jet aboard an aircraft carrier for the first time Wednesday, showcasing the military's capability to have a computer program perform one of the most difficult tasks that a pilot is asked to do. It also would pave the way for the U.S. to launch unmanned aircraft without the need to obtain permission from other countries to use their bases. It is not often that you get a chance to see the future, but that's what we got to do today. This is an amazing day for aviation in general and for naval aviation in particular," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said after watching the landing. The X-47B experimental aircraft took off from Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland before approaching the USS George H.W. Bush, which was operating about 70 miles off the coast of Virginia. The tail-less drone landed by deploying a hook that caught a wire aboard the ship and brought it to a quick stop, just like normal fighter jets do. The maneuver is known as an arrested landing and had previously only been done by the drone on land at Patuxent River. Landing on a ship that is constantly moving while navigating through turbulent air behind the aircraft carrier is seen as a more difficult maneuver, even on a clear day with low winds like Wednesday. Rear Adm. Mat Winter, the Navy's program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, said everything about the flight - including where on the flight deck the plane would first touch and how many feet its hook would bounce - appeared to go exactly as planned. This is a historic day. This is a banner day. This is a red-flag letter day," Winter said. You can call it what you want, but the fact of the matter is that you just observed history - history that your great-grandchildren, my great grandchildren, everybody's great grandchildren are going to be reading in our history books. Less than an hour after that first landing, the jet took off from the carrier and then landed again. The Navy said it would perform three total landings on Wednesday. The Navy will do some additional tests and analysis on the jet, and possibly some more landings in the next few days if the carrier's schedule allows for it , but the first landing was the last major benchmark for the program to hit. Four companies are expected to compete for a contract to design the future unmanned aircraft, which will be awarded in fiscal year 2014. The two experimental aircraft that have been built for the first round of testing will be retired and placed in museums at Patuxent River and at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert called the landing a "miraculous technological feat." It gives us persistence. It gives us the ability to do things that we can't today because of the limitations on the human body in terms of endurance, in terms of distance, in terms of just how long you can stay on station or do the things like refueling," Mabus said. We're not sending this message to any particular country. This is for us. This is to make sure that we keep the technological edge. Brock Vergakis can be reached at http://twitter.com/BrockVergakis.