NAVAL DRONES

The Australian government recently approved the acquisition of a fleet of US Navy  Triton   surveillance drones  to patrol our oceans. Australia has mostly used Israeli drones to date, such as the  Heron s in Afghanistan. So as we dip our toes into the American UAV market, it’s worth taking note of a recent development that might be threatening US primacy in this area. While the  Predator  and  Reaper  laid the groundwork for the use of armed drones in warfare, a question remains about the survivability of the technology against modern air defences. Developing a stealthy long-range drone with a decent weapons payload that could go beyond missions in Yemen and Pakistan appeared to be the next order of business for the US, especially in the future Asia-Pacific theatre. Projects like the demonstrator  X-47B  unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) have shown promise in achieving those missions. But for now the US Navy has decided to go for a...

Though budgets for unmanned systems in the U.S. Navy have been growing rapidly the past few years, even these programs have not been immune from the chopping block in the 2014 budget.  Several cuts have been announced in the past weeks.  The RQ-21 program appears to be shaved from both a Navy and Marine Corps system to possibly a Marine Corps-only aircraft to be deployed on and from Navy ships.  Some technical delays and likely budget shortfalls have caused delays in production of Northrop Grumman's exorbitantly-costly MQ-4C Triton UAV, with $25 million shifted from Fiscal Year 14 to 15.    Triton UAV production has been delayed.  Will other Navy drone programs feel the pain? The future total buy of another important ISR aircraft, Northrop's MQ-8 Fire Scout , is up in the air.  During a briefing on the FY 14 budget, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget Rear Admiral Joseph Mulloy remar...