Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: DoD's Acquisition Efforts.

Abstract

According to DOD, its objective in acquiring UAVS is to provide unmanned systems that will complement its mix of manned and national reconnaissance assets. However, its UAV acquisition efforts to date have been disappointing. Since Aquila began in 1979, of eight UAV programs, three have been terminated (Aquila, Hunter, Medium Range), three remain in development (Outrider, Global Hawk, DarkStar), and one is now transitioning to low rate production (Predator). Only one of the eight, Pioneer, has been fielded as an operational system. We estimate DOD has spent more than $2 billion for development and/or procurement on these eight UAV programs over the past 18 years.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA328322

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Contracts
  • Cost Estimates
  • Data Links
  • Defense Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Ground Control Stations
  • High Altitude
  • Radar
  • Reconnaissance
  • Remotely Piloted Vehicles
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems

Readers

  • Aerial Unmanned Vehicle Swarm Micro Periodontal Dentistry.
  • Government Contracting/Procurement.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs