May 27, 2020 | International, Naval
5/26/2020
By Jon Harper
The Navy already plans to spend big on robotics platforms in the coming years. As operation and maintenance costs grow and defense budgets tighten, that trend could accelerate, analysts say.
The sea service's future years defense program calls for about $12 billion for unmanned aircraft, surface vessels and underwater systems in fiscal years 2021 through 2025, according to Bloomberg Government.
Senior officials have a stated goal of pursuing a 355-plus-ship fleet of manned vessels, but unmanned systems are “probably the future of the Navy,” Robert Levinson, senior defense analyst at Bloomberg Government, said during a recent webinar.
About $7.9 billion in the future years defense program would go toward drones, including nearly $4.3 billion for the MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance aircraft and nearly $1 billion for the MQ-25 Stingray aircraft carrier-launched tanker, according to his presentation slides.
An additional $2.2 billion would be allocated toward unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, and $1.9 billion for unmanned underwater vessels, or UUVs. Navy plans call for spending $941 million on USVs and UUVs in 2021 alone, a 129 percent increase relative to 2019, according to the slides.
Operations, maintenance and personnel costs could squeeze modernization accounts in the coming years, Levinson noted. The 2021 Navy budget request included $125.8 billion total for those categories. In comparison, the request included $57.2 billion for procurement and $21.5 billion for research, development, test and evaluation.
“With this budget being especially flat, you're really seeing the tension particularly in the Navy of, ... ‘Do we spend money on buying new stuff? Or do we need to spend the money on maintaining the stuff we have?'” he said. “You can buy more ships and put more money [into that], but then you need more sailors and you need more training of the sailors,” he noted.
The COVID-19 pandemic could exacerbate funding constraints and further incentivize investments in unmanned platforms, Levinson said.
“The Navy is really in a tough spot” trying to achieve its force level goals, he added.
However, unmanned vessels are generally expected to be less expensive to procure, operate and maintain than manned platforms, which make them attractive as the sea service invests in new capabilities, Levinson noted.
Meanwhile, the Marine Corps plans to restructure its forces to take on advanced adversaries, with a heavier emphasis on robotic platforms.
“That has huge implications going out into the future” for acquisitions, Levinson said. “The Marine Corps' restructuring that's been announced is probably the biggest in a generation.”
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December 7, 2018 | International, C4ISR
By: Mark Pomerleau Air Force leaders are reorganizing the service's primary IT office. As part of the change, leaders are dividing job responsibilities from the chief information officer to a new combined intelligence/IT shop and a deputy CIO. In addition, the Air Force's top IT position — the chief information officer — will become an undersecretary for the service. It's not immediately clear why Air Force leaders want to make the changes, which will take place at the beginning of 2019. Bill Marion, the Air Force's deputy CIO, said during a Dec. 4 event hosted by AFCEA that the service will move the offensive, defensive and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance elements of the staff into a new office. “Think offense, defense and ISR, think 24th [Air Force], 25th [Air Force], think bringing those two communities together in a total full-spectrum [information operations]/[information warfare] fight,” Marion said. The other side of the reorganization will be a pure IT play. Marion, in his role as the deputy CIO, will focus on the IT and associated workforce development components for the Air Force. As part of the changes, Brig. Gen. Kevin Kennedy will serve in a dual-hatted role spanning both aspects of the reorganization, Marion said, serving as a bridge during the transition. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/12/04/the-air-force-is-reorganizing-its-primary-it-shop