A House panel wants to fence off the bulk of $222 million the Navy seeks in fiscal year 2018 to launch the MQ-25, the Unmanned Carrier Aviation program, until the service details performance parameters for the multibillion weapon system development project whose mission has shifted since the original requirement for the capability was validated in 2011.
Unmanned Systems
June 26, 2017 |
June 25, 2017 |
The House Appropriations Committee released a draft version of its fiscal year 2018 defense spending bill Sunday night that would boost weapons procurement by $18.6 billion above what is sought by the Trump administration and $24 billion more than what was enacted in FY-17.
June 23, 2017 |
CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, NV. -- The Navy is considering a plan to recycle the Air Force's soon-to-be retired MQ-1 Predators for its own use, a Navy spokeswoman confirmed to Inside the Air Force this week.
June 21, 2017 |
The Army is seeking information from industry for the Common Robotic System, Heavy according to a Federal Business Opportunities notice.
June 20, 2017 |
The House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee’s mark of the fiscal year 2018 defense policy bill directs the Air Force and defense secretaries to study whether it would be more cost-effective to improve the MQ-9 Reaper fleet by upgrading existing Block 1 aircraft to the Block 5 design or by buying new aircraft altogether.
June 13, 2017 |
The Pentagon's top acquisition official has commissioned a strategic counter-autonomy assessment, directing an influential Defense Department advisory panel to consider projected autonomous threats in both the physical and information domain, identify U.S. weaknesses and recommend potential investments in new capabilities, force strategy and deterrence policy.
June 13, 2017 |
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis plans to ask Congress to reach the bipartisan consensus needed to pass the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2018 defense budget and will pledge to follow up in FY-19 with a request that will increase the size of the military.
June 12, 2017 |
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis plans to ask Congress to reach the bipartisan consensus needed to pass the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2018 defense budget and will pledge to follow up in FY-19 with a request that will increase the size of the military.
June 12, 2017 |
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis plans to ask Congress to reach the bipartisan consensus needed to pass the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2018 defense budget and will pledge to follow up in FY-19 with a request that will increase the size of the military.
June 12, 2017 |
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis plans to ask Congress to reach the bipartisan consensus needed to pass the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2018 defense budget and will pledge to follow up in FY-19 with a request that will increase the size of the military.
June 09, 2017 |
An RQ-4 Global Hawk's recent arrival at Robins Air Force Base, GA, may set the stage for new approaches the Air Force could take to maintain the remotely piloted aircraft fleet.
June 08, 2017 |
The Air Force wants to buy 16 new Block 5 MQ-9 Reapers from General Atomics in fiscal year 2018, a move that comes after the service had not planned to purchase more of the unmanned aerial vehicles that year.
June 06, 2017 |
As the Army continues to adjust its acquisition strategies for robotic systems, the service is looking to begin funding research, development, test and evaluation efforts for key programs in fiscal year 2018, according to budget justification documents.
June 01, 2017 |
The Pentagon is seeking funding for a new "Ghost Fleet" project in fiscal year 2018 to launch a prototype, unmanned maritime naval force to fulfill existing combatant commander requirements, one of nine new-start projects the secretive Strategic Capabilities Office seeks in its $1.1 billion FY-18 research and development spending request.
May 26, 2017 |
Northrop Grumman's effort to prepare its RQ-4 Global Hawk to fly a new slate of sensors in the absence of Lockheed Martin's U-2 will continue, despite the Air Force's decision not to retire the U-2 in fiscal year 2019.
May 19, 2017 |
The Air Force Research Laboratory is asking for industry's input on how intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors could work with the service's open-architecture AgilePod system and plans to flight-test that configuration on a General Atomics MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle this fall.
May 19, 2017 |
Air Force Special Operations Command is planning to integrate Boeing's Laser Small Diameter Bomb onto an MQ-9 Reaper for the first time, as the first step of a plan to field Raytheon’s SDB II on the unmanned aerial aircraft in the future.
May 17, 2017 |
The Army's Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment, which tested several technologies to counter unmanned aerial systems, ultimately could lead to programs of record, according to service officials.
May 16, 2017 |
The Navy has formally transitioned the MQ-8C Fire Scout program -- its autonomous helicopter project that incorporates "endurance" upgrades, including a larger and more powerful aircraft than the original platform -- to low-rate initial production, reinstating a decision rescinded in 2014 when the service decided to migrate the electronic guts of the system from a smaller aircraft.
May 11, 2017 |
The Army is purchasing additional Gray Eagle Extended Range unmanned aircraft systems, according to a May 10 Defense Department announcement.