Senator John McCain (R-AZ) One Of The Plan's Strongest Proponents

Some Congressional leaders say the Pentagon is taking too cautious an approach in developing unmanned aircraft technology that can provide long-range ISR and other capabilities.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is among the officials who say the military should be developing an unmanned system that can operate from an aircraft carrier and fly for days at a time ... providing not only intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, but also carry heavy loads of ordinance deep into an enemy's territory.

Following on the success of the Navy's X-47B program, which demonstrated the ability of an unmanned aircraft to launch and be recovered on a carrier, McCain and others say that there is a growing need for stealthy, unmanned aircraft that can continue to effectively project U.S. military power from aircraft carriers in a way that manned aircraft cannot, due to limited range and other factors.

The Washington Post reports that McCain, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter last month in which he urged the Carter to ensure that the Navy’s first unmanned combat aircraft is capable of both providing persistent ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and conducting strike missions from the carrier at standoff distances in contested environments.”

The issue, according to defense consultant Loren Thompson, is that the Navy could scrap the program if it becomes too expensive ... or the aircraft gets so large that it is incapable of operating from a carrier.

For now, Congress is continuing to fund the X-47B program while the Pentagon looks at its options for unmanned systems. The DoD is currently reviewing whether it should be developed into a long-range strike aircraft or continue primarily in a surveillance role.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said that the X-47B program has been so successful that making the aircraft into a long-range offensive weapon is "not as risky a proposition as we had thought," according to the Post. He said there are many other aircraft that can fly surveillance around carriers, but the technology demonstrated by the X-47B provides an opportunity. However, other analysts said that the Pentagon also has multiple long-range attack options, including a new Long Range Strike Bomber, a contract for which may be awarded soon.

FMI: www.defense.gov