Pentagon Gets $7.5 Billion for Unmanned Systems.

• Date: 01 June 2021
• Author: Harper, Jon
• Published date: 01 June 2021
• Author: Harper, Jon

The Defense Department has been allocated about $7.5 billion in fiscal year 2021 for a variety of robotic platforms and related technologies, according to a recent study that looked at more than 1,000 funding items.

All of the military services and Special Operations Command are pursuing these capabilities, also known as UxV, for the air, ground, maritime surface and subsurface domains.

"Recent advancements in autonomy, sensors, energy/propulsion systems, and navigation/control systems have improved the efficiency and effectiveness of U*V, allowing them to function for long periods of time with minimal human input and oversight," said a new report by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, "2021 Defense Budget for Unmanned Systems and Robotics."

"Sustained investments in U*V systems will expand their uses, enabling DoD to more effectively allocate resources and speed response times in a hybrid fleet system," the study...