X-47B. Seems too big for a drone

The U.S. Navy has sped up its efforts to ready its X-47B UCAS (Unmanned Combat Aerial System), for carrier operations. This includes an additional $2 billion for development, in an attempt to have the X-47B demonstrating the ability to regularly operate from a carrier, and perform combat (including reconnaissance and surveillance) operations, within five years. Senior admirals see this as a way to solve several problems. One is the dominance of the U.S. Air Force in UAV operations (with their fleet of Predator, Reaper and Global Hawk UAVs). Then there is the growing cost of the new F-35, that is supposed to replace older F-18s on carriers and U.S. Marine Corps squadrons. If the X-47B, and similar UAVs, can be developed quickly, and cheaply, enough, they could be purchased, instead of much more expensive F-35s, by the end of the decade.