The Pentagon is asking Congress to shift $617 million in a reprogramming request that ostensibly would fund higher-priority military intelligence needs, but also includes money for efforts like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Ground Based Midcourse Defense programs.

The Navy's newest unmanned aircraft platform, the MQ-4C Triton, completed its first flight today at Palmdale, CA, which marks the start of testing that will validate the system for future fleet operations, according to the service.

House legislators want the Air Force to continue flying a squadron of high-altitude unmanned aircraft two years beyond the date the service expects to stop using what it considers a cost-heavy program.

The Pentagon plans to sign a new deal with India to develop and test algorithms to autonomously control swarms of small, unmanned aerial vehicles, the Defense Department's director for international cooperation, Keith Webster, told Congress in a recent letter.

The Army is planning to hold a competition for jamming capabilities for unmanned aircraft systems during its Multi-Function Electronic Warfare program's technology development phase, which is expected to start in late fiscal year 2014, according to the Army's Electronic Warfare Division chief.

The Navy last week touted the first-ever carrier-based catapult launch of its X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator (UCAS-D), kicking off a series of further tests for the unmanned aerial system.

A recently released Air Force report shows that it is less expensive for the service to conduct a variety of high-altitude, long-endurance reconnaissance missions using the RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk aircraft than using the U-2 spy plane.

Two powerful lawmakers are asking Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to join them in their effort to block an Air Force plan to obtain "relief" from a congressional mandate that would require the purchase of three RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft.

The Air Force wants to empty its Gorgon Stare accounts and freeze the production requirements of the sensor program in order to save upwards of $56 million and spend that money on other "critical" needs.

Data collected from a successful test of an unmanned, hypersonic test demonstrator last week could help the Air Force develop weapon systems with increased survivability and responsiveness, according to the program's manager.

The Defense Department is launching a series of counterterrorism security assistance projects in Africa, distributing $55 million worth of aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, sensors, ground vehicles, radios and more to four nations, including a new recipient -- Burkina Faso.

A new Pentagon report sent to Congress today provides the most detailed government account of capabilities China is developing to thwart U.S. forces -- so-called anti-access, area-denial weapon systems that include two stealth fighter aircraft programs, an unmanned combat air vehicle, anti-satellite capabilities, a ballistic missile defense "umbrella" and cyberwarfare.

A United Nations report released last week calls for a moratorium on lethal autonomous robotics (LARs) "because robots should not have the power of life and death over human beings." The report specifically cites two Navy systems, the Phalanx ship protection system and the X-47B unmanned air system.

The Army's Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft program is scheduled to undergo a full rate-production review on May 24, the service says.

An unmanned hypersonic flight test demonstrator flew five times the speed of sound this week, achieving the longest-ever air-breathing hypersonic flight, according to the Air Force.

Defense Department employees, industry officials and average citizens aired their grievances with the Federal Aviation Administration during a privacy policy public engagement session last month on the agency's effort to establish six test-sites where unmanned aircraft will be integrated into the national airspace.

As the drawdown of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan increases, the Marine Corps is using the K-MAX cargo unmanned air vehicle system as it begins breaking down forward operating bases throughout the country, a move that is reducing risk for Marines on the ground, according to a service official.

The Army has saved $10.5 million in fiscal year 2013 by identifying subsystems and components on unmanned aircraft systems that require reset as they return from theater rather than resetting the entire aircraft, according to the service's UAS fleet manager.

The Air Force's science and technology priorities include a heavy emphasis on increasing the efficiency of the service's autonomous missions, finding an affordable solution for precision air drops and maintaining mission assurance in a contested cyber environment, according to one of the service's top science and technology officials.

The Defense Department has quietly ended an effort to quickly develop a low-cost, persistent surveillance capability known as Global Observer, selling the one remaining unmanned aircraft back to the manufacturer, Aerovironment, after failing to find an interested agency or service to continue its development, according to government and industry officials.