UAS

DEPSECDEF Hicks: DoD Wants Thousands of Drones to Counter China’s Military Mass Advantage

A Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel (USV) operates with guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) in the Arabian Gulf during exercise Phantom Scope, Oct. 7, 2022. US Navy Photo

The Pentagon is betting that by fielding thousands of attritable autonomous systems across domains in fewer than two years, the United States can overcome China’s advantage of mass in manpower, ships, aircraft and missiles, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said in a Monday speech.

Speaking at...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/28/depsecdef-hicks-dod-wants-thousands-of-drones-to-counter-chinas-military-mass-advantage

Defense Primer: U.S. Policy on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems

The following is the Nov. 14, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, Defense Primer: U.S. Policy on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems.

From the report

Lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) are a special class of weapon systems that use sensor suites and computer algorithms to independently identify a target and employ an onboard weapon system to engage and destroy the target without manual human control of the system. Although these systems are not yet in widespread development, it is...

https://news.usni.org/2022/11/17/defense-primer-u-s-policy-on-lethal-autonomous-weapon-systems

Pentagon’s Counter Small Drone Strategy

The following is the U.S. Department of Defense Counter-sUAS Strategy that was released on Jan. 7, 2020.

From the report

The exponential growth of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) creates new risks for the Department of Defense (DoD). Technology trends are dramatically transforming legitimate applications of sUAS while simultaneously making them increasingly capable weapons in the hands of state actors, non-state actors, and criminals. Small UAS may also pose hazards to DoD operations in...

https://news.usni.org/2021/01/08/pentagons-counter-small-drone-strategy

Report to Congress on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems

The following is the Aug. 16, 2019 Congressional Research Service In Focus report International Discussions Concerning Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems.

From the report

As technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), advances, lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS)—weapons designed to make decisions about using lethal force without manual human control—may soon make their appearance, raising a number of potential ethical, diplomatic, legal, and strategic concerns for Congress. By...

https://news.usni.org/2019/08/20/report-to-congress-on-lethal-autonomous-weapon-systems

Naval Test Pilot School Adds New Focus on Unmanned Aircraft

An MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle, top, conducts laser designation of an AGM-114 Hellfire missile for an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter attached to the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6) off the coast of San Clemente Island.

The Navy just graduated its first class of unmanned aerial vehicle test pilots from a new course designed to apply the lessons of manned test pilot programs to UAVs

For decades, the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School trained aviators how to evaluate new aircraft...

https://news.usni.org/2019/06/27/naval-test-pilot-school-adds-new-focus-on-unmanned-aircraft

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