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
X-47B conducts its first night flight April 10 over Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. on April, 10 2014. US Navy Photo
The Navy is pushing back a planned request for proposal (RfP) for its carrier-based unmanned aerial strike and surveillance aircraft pending a review of a controversial set of requirements by the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD), defense officials told USNI News on Monday. Read More
An artists conception of Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s 2009 bid for the Next Generation Bomber (NGB). Boeing Photo
The U.S. Air Force released a request for proposals (RFP) for its secretive Long Range Strike-Bomber program on Wednesday. Read More
An image of guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) following a collision with a BGM-74 target drone on Saturday. The impact area is circled. NBC 7 San Diego Image/U.S. Naval Institute photo illustration
The following is the March 28, 2014 report from the commander’s investigation into the Nov. 16 strike of a Northrop Grumman BQM-74 target drone into the side USS Chancellorsville (CG-62). Read More
RQ-4 Global Hawk sits on the runway before beginning a nighttime mission. US Air Force Photo
The U.S. Air Force’s fleet of Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawks has been busy in recent days, touching down in Japan and participating in NATO exercises over the U.K. for the first time. Read More
An MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle takes off from Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu on Oct. 31, 2013. US Navy Photo
In the next 15 to 25 years it is not unreasonable to imagine that unmanned helicopter drones will be shuttling people and parts from shore-to-sea for routine non-tactical resupply missions. Read More
An artist’s concept of the Lockheed Martin’s bid for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS). Lockheed Martin Image
Despite a Congressional push to stall the Navy’s next generation carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) plans to issue a full request for proposal (RFP) for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) in July. Read More
An EA-18G Growler launches from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75). US Navy Photo
ST. LOUIS — The U.S. Navy formally took delivery of the 100th Boeing EA-18G Growler during an elaborate Monday ceremony in which the company stumped for Congress to buy beyond the Navy’s current program of record of 138 aircraft. 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
Triton unmanned aircraft system completes its first flight May 22, 2013. US Navy Photo
The Department of Defense would be required to establish an office to specifically manage unmanned systems if language proposed in a new Asia-Pacific Region Priority bill holds. Read More
