The striking power and stealth of the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) concept was reduced to protect the role of the service’s next-generation of manned fighters, USNI News has learned.

The striking power and stealth of the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) concept was reduced to protect the role of the service’s next-generation of manned fighters, USNI News has learned.
An artist’s concept of General Atomic’s Sea Avenger UCLASS bid taken from a display monitor. US Naval Institute Photo
The Navy seems to have shifted its concept for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) for a third time in as many years part of the most confusing and misunderstood aviation acquisition programs in the last decade. Read More
F-35A Lightning II while another Air Force joint strike fighter waits to be refueled at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. US Air Force Photo
This post was updated to include a statement from Lockheed Martin.
A Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was severely damaged — possibly destroyed — in a Monday morning fire on the runway at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., USNI News learned.
EA-18G Growler assigned to the Electronic Attack Squadron 141 (VAQ) flies over the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG-85) on Sept. 3, 2012
PENTAGON — The U.S. Navy and Boeing will have to hash out a new plan to continue producing the EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack aircraft if the Congress does not provide enough money to buy 22 of the planes. Read More
The Pentagon released its 2014 report to Congress, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China on Thursday. An annual requirement since 2010, the report outlines military technology advancements and the techniques and training the branches of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have undertaken in the last year. Read More
An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator sits on an aircraft elevator of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on May 6.
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) seeks to put on hold the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft program and directs the Pentagon to fund a study for a future carrier-borne unmanned strike aircraft, according to language in the HASC’s Seapower and Projections Forces Committee’s mark of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Bill. Read More
The following is a brief history of the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program compiled by USNI News.
E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft conduct a test flight in 2009. The Navy included one more E-2D in its unfunded priorities list submitted to Congress this week. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy’s $10.023 billion unfunded priorities list for fiscal year 2015 — submitted to Congress on April 1 — seems to further the service’s aims to defeat an adversary in a high-end air war. Read More
The scene following the March, 11 crash of a EA-6B Prowler outside of Harrington, Wash. taken by Stan Dammel, manager of the nearby Odessa Municipal Airport.
A U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Manual Investigation (JAGMAN) into the March 11, 2013, crash of a VAQ-129 Grumman EA-6B Prowler that killed three sailors in rural Washington has found that the accident was the result of pilot error. Read More
USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) left,the guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG-58) on Feb. 19, 2014. US Navy Photo
The Navy preserved development of future combat power over the next five years in its Fiscal Year 2015 $148 billion budget submission to Congress released in briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday.
The procurement documents — released on Tuesday — emphasize weapon systems over the Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) that will fit into future Navy constructs, like the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air—or NIFC-CA (pronounced: nif-kah) designed to prosecute high-end air wars in the 2020s as well as next generation surface ship weapons. Read More