The Royal Australian Air Force’s first MQ-4C Triton. Northrop Grumman Photo
The Royal Australian Air Force will reactivate a squadron for the three MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicles it will start operating in 2024, Australian Defense officials announced Friday.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles and Chief of the RAAF Air Marshal Robert Chipman announced the reformation of the squadron in a joint press conference at the Avalon Airshow held in Geelong,...
The following is the July 28, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Current and Potential Programs.
From the report
Since the dawn of military aviation, the U.S. military has been interested in remotely piloted aircraft. Present-day unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) typically consist of an unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) paired with a ground control station. UAS have become ubiquitous in U.S. military operations since the 1990s with the introduction of the MQ-1...
https://news.usni.org/2022/08/02/report-to-congress-on-current-future-unmanned-aircraft-systems
The following is the July 18, 2022 Congressional Research Service report, Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Roles, Missions, and Future Concepts.
From the report
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have gained increased prominence in U.S. military operations. The Department of Defense (DOD) is currently developing advanced UAS, along with optionally crewed aircraft, as part of its modernization strategy. The roles and missions of UAS are relevant to Congress in authorizing, appropriating, and providing...
https://news.usni.org/2022/07/19/report-to-congress-on-the-future-of-unmanned-aircraft
NASA Photo
SAN DIEGO, CALIF., – Congressional appropriators are closer to cementing a deal that would finalize the belated Fiscal Year 2022 defense budget, three legislative sources confirmed to USNI News on Wednesday.
The sources said the deal for the Department of Defense FY 2022 appropriations bill would be in line with the $768 billion FY 2022 authorization bill signed by President Joe Biden in late December. The FY 2022 spending bill would be about $25 to 30 billion more than the initial...
USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118) at Bath Iron Works
THE PENTAGON – The Senate Armed Services Committee Fiscal Year 2022 authorization bill adds an additional destroyer, a Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport and five more F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters for the Navy, according to a summary of the markup issued on Thursday by the SASC.
The additions are part of a $740.3 billion authorization bill that’s $25 billion more than the Pentagon’s initial budget request from late May.
The bill...
Three littoral combat ships in various stages of construction at Marinette, Wisconsin during July 2015. The Navy is seeking to decommission USS Detroit (LCS-7), at right, and USS Little Rock (LCS-9), in the background. The ships were commissioned only in 2016 and 2017, respectively. USS Milwaukee (LCS-5), commissioned in 2015, is to remain in service. Christopher P. Cavas Photo used with permission
House appropriators are cutting development money for the Navy’s ship-launched nuclear cruise...
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG-104) transits alongside the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) on Jan. 19, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s modest shipbuilding request as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 budget shows the Pentagon has “walked away from the 500-ship Navy,” a senior defense analyst said Tuesday.
The Fiscal Year 2022 shipbuilding request is seeking $22.6 billion, a 3 percent drop from Fiscal Year’s 2021 shipbuilding total. The move from the Pentagon shows...
https://news.usni.org/2021/06/01/analyst-says-pentagon-walked-away-from-the-500-ship-navy
Submarine construction continues apace in the latest US Navy budget request, which asks for two more Virginia-class submarines and another installment for the missile sub Columbia. Here, the Virginia-class attack submarine USS Montana (SSN-794) is seen just after launch in March 2021 at Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding. HII Photo
The long-delayed Navy Fiscal Year 2022 budget request submitted to Congress May 28 reflects modest increases in several areas, but overall shows no...
https://news.usni.org/2021/05/28/fleet-growth-stymied-by-fiscal-year-2022-navy-budget-request
The Navy wants to emphasize the development of enablers for unmanned systems – the common interfaces and control stations, the networks, the secure data formats, the autonomy behaviors – as it pursues a hybrid manned/unmanned fleet for the future.
However, the platforms still matter – and most of the ones the Navy wants to leverage in the coming years are still in development.
Several platforms were discussed during a recent House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee...