No GPS, no radar, no deck modifications — just commercial cameras and smart algorithms guiding a drone onto a pitching flight deck In an era...

No GPS, no radar, no deck modifications — just commercial cameras and smart algorithms guiding a drone onto a pitching flight deck In an era where electromagnetic warfare can blind a fleet in seconds, the U.S. Navy has quietly proven that its drones can still find their way home. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) engineers have successfully demonstrated a tactical drone completing a mission and landing aboard a moving warship without any GPS signal relying solely on off-the-shelf cameras, motion sensors, and onboard software. The implications are enormous. For decades, shipboard drone recovery has demanded multimillion-dollar radar systems, specialized deck equipment, and months of shipyard modifications. That model cannot scale to a distributed fleet expected...

No GPS, no radar, no deck modifications — just commercial cameras and smart algorithms guiding a drone onto a pitching flight deck In an era where electromagnetic warfare can blind a fleet in seconds, the U.S. Navy has quietly proven that its drones can still find their way home. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) engineers have successfully demonstrated a tactical drone completing a mission and landing aboard a moving warship without any GPS signal relying solely on off-the-shelf cameras, motion sensors, and onboard software. The implications are enormous. For decades, shipboard drone recovery has demanded multimillion-dollar radar systems, specialized deck equipment, and months of shipyard modifications. That model cannot scale to a distributed fleet expected...