a425couple wrote:

In 1972 they were working on automated carrier landings.
What is current status?

"August 1972
5--A Naval Air Test Center pilot made the first fully automated
landing aboard the carrier Ranger in an F-4J Phantom II. The test
landing device links the plane's controls with a computer aboard ship
and enables the aircraft to land with the pilot's hands off the
controls. The system was developed to make safer landings at night
and in low visibility conditions."

They've been available since the 70s. Reliability sucked (I had 4
successful ones in my entire A-6 career), though newer airplanes had
better luck. There were too many independent parts to the puzzle
(radars, ACLS, ILS, Data Link, beacon, autopilot, APC...) , any ONE of
which could be a single-point failure. APC (Approach Power Compensator
or autothrottles) tended to be the weak link in the A-6, with the
autipilot close behind.