Unmanned Systems

The House Armed Services Committee is supporting the Air Force's plans to accelerate the Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology program for pairing with such manned platforms as the F-35.

The Army and the Defense Innovation Unit are working on a pre-decisional program to prototype and field over the next 18 months small, expendable scout drones from slightly modified commercial models.

Despite the Navy's efforts to convince lawmakers to make major investments in unmanned technology, House appropriators are proposing funding cuts for several high-profile programs in their fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill.

The Army's unmanned combat vehicle rodeo in Texas included six companies, some of which offered more than one candidate, putting 10 robotic systems through their paces in a technological maturity assessment for the Robotic Combat Vehicle program.

The Defense Department is looking to enhance information sharing on counter-unmanned aerial system solutions by holding monthly meetings between combatant commanders and service representatives in Pentagon headquarters, with a current emphasis on Afghanistan and Iraq.

The MQ-25 unmanned aerial tanker will incorporate an early version of the Navy's Common Control System, a first step in the service’s long-term effort to create software capable of operating surface, sub-surface and aerial unmanned platforms.

Despite an abrupt reversal on plans to retire the aircraft carrier Harry Truman (CVN-75), the program manager responsible for a large portfolio targeted for investment in lieu of the ship's midlife refueling said he's "optimistic" the Navy will not cut his funding.

The Navy is readying the Barracuda mine neutralizer for a preliminary design review in June, advancing development of a next-generation capability that is slated to be part of a new unmanned and autonomous technology package to clear contested waters for aircraft carrier strike groups and other surface combatants, executing in hours tasks that now can take weeks.

The Air Force is seeking congressional approval for a $12 million reprogramming to purchase counter-small unmanned aerial systems.