Unmanned Systems

The Air Force will decide in the next 60 to 90 days which of its four initial Skyborg prototyping competitors will have their drones participate in operational experiments to build the service's first autonomous vehicle for manned-unmanned teaming.

The Trump administration is seeking to boost U.S. exports of unmanned aerial systems by reinterpreting how those aircraft are treated under the Missile Technology Control Regime.

The Army's Joint Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems office has merged into the fires directorate within its management office, a service official said today.

House appropriators are recommending cutting most of the fiscal year 2021 funding the Air Force proposed for Advanced Battle Management System on-ramp events while also criticizing the service's nontraditional execution of the program.

The Navy is considering tasking its new unmanned surface vessels with the ballistic missile defense mission, a move that could free up guided-missile destroyers and push the service toward the more distributed fleet it is seeking.

House and Senate lawmakers are pushing to fund the Army's MQ-1 Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system after concerns that a temporary halt to the program will result in increased costs and requirement delays.

Senate authorizers in their mark of the next defense policy bill recommend cutting funding for the Navy's Medium and Large Unmanned Surface Vessel research and development efforts.

A Senate panel is proposing legislation to re-instate -- after a brief hiatus -- the requirement for the Pentagon to produce an annual aviation inventory and funding plan, a move that could provide lawmakers as well as aerospace and defense analysts insight into the U.S. long-term investment plans for the approximately 14,000 aircraft flown by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

Despite a less aggressive public campaign from the Navy this budget cycle to highlight unmanned ships, House lawmakers are continuing to push for legislative provisions to temper the service's rapid efforts to develop the untested technology.