As unmanned systems become increasingly vital to future warfare, lawmakers on April 9 called for a fundamental shift in how the U.S. military buys and builds its platforms – urging faster, more flexible acquisition strategies to better integrate manned and unmanned assets across the U.S. Navy.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Sea Air and Space conference in National Harbor, Md., Rep. Trent Kelly, R-Miss., said that the Navy must break from tradition and embrace both manned and unmanned platforms based on mission needs, emphasizing that the choice isn’t binary.
“I think that’s what’s wrong with our acquisition system, and the reason it’s broken … I don’t think it’s a manned or unmanned platform, I think some can be both, depending on the mission and depending on what you do,” said Rep. Kelly.
“We know it’s cheaper, it puts less people at risk, it still takes people to fly those things,” he continued. “It’s just going to be a matter of the administration and of Congress saying we’re not going to do it the same old way … It’s a new strategic theater that we operate in, and we’ve got to operate differently because … we’re not going to get the massive equities that we need.”
While modernization should be a priority, Rep. Kelly also noted that retiring ships without replacements for them weakens readiness. Instead of chasing perfection, he said, there needs to be rapid execution of sufficient solutions that fill immediate capability gaps.
“There’s some good ideas that you can do, but you’re better off violently executing to build 85 percent of the ship that you want, rather than having zero percent because either the old ones are too old to work anymore, or the new ones are 10 years away in production,” Rep. Kelly argued.
“You can accept the risk of having 85 percent, but you understand that risk … is better than zero percent any day,” he added.
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., agreed with the urgency of taking decisive action now to avoid capability gaps later. The congressman explained that bloated redesigns and delayed timelines undermine the Navy’s ability to modernize.
“The question is, what is your interim aircraft for a carrier strike group to make sure that you have the ability to operate now at distance and where you can add that to … an unmanned system to be able to do those things,” said Rep. Wittman. “I think Navy’s asking the right questions there.”
Pointing to the Naval Air Station Oceana, which is housed in her district, Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., warned that undertaking exercises for the integration of unmanned systems also requires immediate action to ensure readiness when it matters most.
“As we send these guys on missions across the globe … we need that piece,” said Rep. Kiggans. “When you debrief with the guys that have been in the Red Sea … and listen to their challenges and their struggles with that unmanned integration, because there was a lot [of] … partners that we’re trying to coordinate with, we need to be practicing those tactics, those scenarios, so that when push comes to shove we’re ready to go.”