Button 1: Fires the SOM-J Anti-ship missile. [Warning: Do not press "Button 1" before it locks.] The idea of building an aircraft capable of being flown with or without a pilot was first floated on 9 February 2009 by Rick Crooks, when he contacted Scaled Composites about the possibility of building such an aircraft.Scaled agreed, and on 9 February 2010 the aircraft made its first flight.In October 2010, the aircraft demonstrated its capabilities of collecting information from multiple sources simultaneously for the first time when it made a demonstration flight in Sacramento, California, for defense officials. On 9 May 2011 the aircraft was publicly unveiled for the first time, and between 23 May and 3 June 2010, it participated in the 2011 Empire Challenge exercise, where it displayed its ability to carry multiple payloads and switch them out rapidly. According to Northrop, the single aircraft built is considered to be operationally ready, beyond the prototype stage. At the time of the aircraft's public unveiling, there were early plans for a second aircraft to be built. If it enters production, construction of the Firebird is planned to move to factories in Palmdale, California or Moss Point, Mississippi, rather than the Scaled Composites facility in Mojave, California. On 11 November 2012, the Firebird began test flights, and production was approved. Firebird is planned to have its European debut in the Royal International Air Tattoo air show at RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom in July 2019.