US Navy to field first unmanned squadron by 2025

From [external link]

The time on station should extend the Carrier Battle Group's radius of control further yet.

The U.S. Navy is calling for competitive prototyping in preparation for fielding its first squadron of Unmanned Combat Air Systems (UCAS) by 2025.

NUCAS is expected to replace the Navy's F/A-18s on aircraft carrier decks, and the system will provide greater range and time on station than the manned fleet. This shift will project Navy air power far beyond today's reach, adding more protection to ships at sea.

This strategy puts the Navy at the forefront of the Pentagon's efforts to field combat drones; the U.S. Air Force has decided to create a manned design for its next-generation bomber for fielding in 2018.

The Navy is conducting an analysis of alternatives to narrow down its choices for the F/A-18 replacement, dubbed the F/A-XX program.

In lockstep, officials at Naval Air Systems Command are formulating an acquisition strategy to build off of work handled by Northrop Grumman, which is building two NUCAS demonstrators, according to Capt. Martin Deppe, NUCAS program manager. Northrop Grumman beat Boeing for the $635 contract to design and test the suitability of a tailless, low-observable design operating in and around aircraft carriers.

mod edit: changed quote tags to external quote tags, also cut down length of quote.

[edit on 17-3-2008 by UK Wizard]

Originally posted by oxillini
In lockstep, officials at Naval Air Systems Command are formulating an acquisition strategy to build off of work handled by Northrop Grumman, which is building two NUCAS demonstrators, according to Capt. Martin Deppe, NUCAS program manager. Northrop Grumman beat Boeing for the $635 contract to design and test the suitability of a tailless, low-observable design operating in and around aircraft carriers.

I wonder what $635 gets them for this program?

That is the cheapest contract I have ever heard a defense contractor go for.

Either that or the folks at DefenseTech forgot to proofread again.

reply to post by COOL HAND


It gets them some sweet posters of what it would look like. Framing and shipping are extra.

Just looked it up. It's $635 million.

[edit on 11-3-2008 by oxillini]

(Speaking of posters of what it should look like) One cool thing about pulling duty at the Pentagon and going through all the general staff offices at night was the freedom to play with all the awesome (and I mean fantastic) models given to them by defense contractors.

The British have a new system on one of their Tornado fighters that can control UAVs and can be used to take over a hijacked airliner.

looks like the One button war era is here, maybe those RTS games aren't actually a waist of time after all. lets just hope those types of systems don't go hay-wire once they malfunction in the field.