Think Tank Report Says US Navy Needs FA-XX and *TWO* UCLASS Drones

Congress is trotting out a report written by the Hudson Institute stating the US Navy really needs the Ford class, but the airwing is totally horked. The report says the Navy needs the FA-XX asap and two UCLASS drones, one ISR and the other a deep penetrating strike platform.

I wrote a while back on my blog that I thought UCLASS needed to be fractured into several platforms. The carrier-borne Global Hawk is really a nonstarter upon reflection, but I stand by the HEL Avenger for fleet defense, an ISR/light strike UCAV and deep strike UCLASS. For the drones, I'd think you'd need to add the robot parking structures on the hangar deck.

Just some crazy thoughts.

(and, yeah, I followed back a whole bunch of hits to my blog to here about the LRS-B).

Well they have the Xb-47 which is doing very very well in operations.

a reply to: Blackfinger

And it's only a tech demonstrator for now. They may offer it for UCLASS, but even as well as it's doing the others are potentially better.

They're trying to push the sixth gen work up some, but as screwed up as UCLASS is I don't see them having ONE uav any time soon, let alone two.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah, the UCLASS went from something exciting and fast tracked to an utter disappointment.

Thats what happens when you start changing requirements mid stream...Its getting a case of infighting within political circles that ruins all the hard work done by all the major companies involved.