More on the Chinese space moves:
G2 Solutions @ September 2, 2010
G2 Solutions @ September 2, 2010
G2 Solutions @ August 30, 2010
G2 Solutions @ August 30, 2010
Admiral Gary Roughead, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations opened day two of the AUVSI North America Symposium and Exhibition with timely and candid remarks concerning the Navy’s unmanned past, present and future.
Roughead acknowledged that the Navy hasn’t pressed perhaps as far as it could have in the past, and followed that the relatively benign operational environments encountered today are not going to last. Roughead would like to see future UAS with an increased ability to self deploy while operating independently of other assets. He stressed that current and future systems must be compatible with all Navy surface combatants, as the roughly 300 ships are likely to be in services for decades to come.
With connectivity of increasing importance Roughead indicated a desire for the UAVs themselves to becomeinformation nodes on the network, and that this and other networks were a means by which to support the warfighter by better fusing this information into the enterprise. In doing so, Roughead would like to see a departure from the platform-centric approach; with a system providing functional information-based solutions not focused on elegance.
Regarding evolving systems, the Navy would like to integrate Vertical-takeoff UAV capability with a minimal impact on maintenance and infrastructure, and it is within this fiscal environment that the Navy cannot tolerate underperforming programs. Integrating new platforms and capapabilities with this paradigm is quite a challenge. A bottom line for Roughead came in the form of his desire to keep U.S. Naval forces relevant in shaping world outcomes with an eye toward how UAVs will play into these scenarios.
Of particular interest are UCAS/UCAV outcomes and timing. Roughead said an IOC of 2018 is too late for his liking, and he wants to imbue a sense of urgency in the test, evaluation and competition phases of this program. Roughead says he understands the challenges of integrating a UCAS/UCAV capability into the EW environment of the Carrier Battle Group as well as the skies these systems will fly into, but his 2020’s vision is one of the F-35 and an operational UCAS/UCAV variant working alongside.
G2 Solutions @ August 25, 2010
