Unmanned Systems

The Navy intends to publish a competitive request for proposals in fiscal year 2020 for one of its largest developmental unmanned undersea vehicles, a move that would accelerate the program by five years.

The Army wants to spend about $1 billion over its five-year defense plan to develop the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle and $470 million to prototype the Robotic Combat Vehicle, according to new details in the service's fiscal year 2020 budget request.

The Marine Corps plans to ask Congress for $21 million in research and development funding for its Marine Air Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary program in the fiscal year 2020 request, according to a service spokesman.

The Navy will procure two additional unmanned surface vessels configured by the Strategic Capabilities Office in fiscal year 2020, and experimentation with those ships will inform the top-level requirements of eight Large USVs purchased throughout the future years defense program, a Navy spokesman told Inside Defense.

The Pentagon has issued more than a dozen contracts to develop insect-scale robotic technologies needed for a new-class of ultra-small platforms the size of ants that might one day clandestinely move within 10 centimeters of a target.

The Air Force is hosting a second experiment this fall to determine whether off-the-shelf directed energy technology can be used to counter unmanned aerial systems, and if successful, the service intends to acquire this technology using accelerated acquisition authorities, according to a Feb. 8 announcement.

Textron Systems in partnership with the Navy is researching how its unmanned surface vessel could use autonomous technology in conjunction with "smart weapons" to ultimately fulfill a fire and indirect fire mission for the service, a company executive told Inside the Navy in a Jan. 24 interview.

The Navy is looking to accelerate a mine neutralization system linked to a new mine countermeasures vessel, and will consider using an accelerated acquisition designation to do so, according to the program manager.

The Navy is developing specifications for how autonomous technology should behave within its unmanned systems, with the intention to eventually include them in solicitations, according to a Navy official.