Unmanned Systems

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.

Textron Systems is looking to its purchase of ground robotics company Howe and Howe as well as more focused independent research and development spending to help it grow, Lisa Atherton, the unit's president, told reporters today.

The Air Force will consider how it uses spare parts for the MQ-9 Block 5 aircraft when projecting future requirements, in response to a Defense Department inspector general finding that the service has thousands of excess Reaper parts in its inventory.