The first operational use of armed UAVs involved Predators carrying antitank missiles and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
The first operational squadron 800 Naval Air Squadron was also formed in March 1980 initially to operate from HMS Invincible before it transferred to HMS Hermes.
The frigate operated in NATO waters, at the time of the RN's first operational experience with surface ship towed passive sonar.
The first operational convenience: you never know we may need it in the future.
By the end of Heathrow's first operational year, 63,000 passengers had travelled through it.
In 1989 a stock exchange opened in Belgrade, the country's first operational exchange since 1941.
The first operational suborbital craft could easily beat that record all on its own.
In George's squadron, only seven out of 30 crews survived their first operational tour of 25 raids.
John Shepherd-Barron, who has died aged 84, was the inventor of the first operational cash machine.
The first operational unit flying Boeing B17 Flying Fortresses was the 97th Bomber Group, initially based at Polebrook, near Peterborough.
Lockheed says it plans to have a working prototype running in five years and the first operational reactors in ten.
