Unmanned Systems

The Air Force aims to field an unmanned autonomous vehicle that can serve as a platform for operational artificial intelligence by the end of 2023, according to the program's manager.

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.