The Navy flew a fixed-wing drone from one of its vessels for the first time as part of its efforts to advance technology for unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Navy said a prototype of the Mojave drone, developed by the U.S. firm General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, took off Tuesday from the 14-thousand-ton ROKS Dokdo, an amphibious assault ship.

The drone flew over the East Sea for about an hour, maintaining communications with the vessel and the Naval Air Command.

A fixed-wing drone can fly faster than a rotorcraft drone and cover a wider area.

While the use of fixed-wing drones onboard vessels has been limited as they require a runway for takeoff, the latest prototype is capable of ascending from a runway shorter than 100 meters.