Navy Hopes to Make Big Waves with Unmanned Vehicles

As the U.S. seeks to contain China, the U.S. Navy is betting big on unmanned systems with some significant budget requests. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) recently released its budget request seeking $842 billion for fiscal year 2024. For its part, the U.S. Navy has asked the DOD to allocate 15%, or $48.1 billion, of the DOD’s $315.0 billion total investment budget toward shipbuilding and maritime systems. Add to this the seafaring service’s ask for a combined $555 million in research and development funds for large unmanned surface vehicles (LUSVs), medium unmanned surface vehicles (MUSVs), LUSV and MUSV enabling capabilities, extra-large unmanned undersea vehicles (XLUUVs) and core technologies for unmanned underwater vehicles. These big dollars merit a dive into how these maritime unmanned vehicles fit into the larger defense and Navy strategies.

https://insideunmannedsystems.com/navy-hopes-to-make-big-waves-with-unmanned-vehicles/

Topics: US Navy, Department of Defense, large unmanned surface vehicles (LUSVs), medium unmanned surface vehicles (MUSVs), extra-large unmanned undersea vehicles (XLUUVs)