The benefits the US has gained from Israeli technological advances in everything from medical equipment to microchips to pilotlessaircraft are without peer worldwide.
BAE's Simon Shrouder estimates that pilotlessaircraft could be used within three to five years to investigate weather systems or natural disasters, such as volcanic ash clouds.
Gortney said a surface-to-air missile threat would have to be eliminate before pilotlessaircraft such as the Global Hawk drone could fly missions to see how successful the strikes have been.
These missiles essentially pilotlessaircraft capable of high accuracy delivery of nuclear or conventional ordinance over long distances from a variety of surface and subsurface naval platforms represent a powerful force-multiplier for the U.S. Navy.
X-43A, which is pilotless, four metres long, and has a nose made of solid tungsten, will be the first working aircraft to be powered by a scramjet a supersonic-combustion ramjet.