Autonomous aircraft and unmanned military drones are the future of global military engagements, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
Unmanned is "the future of warfare," Mabus said. "We are doing a lot of [exciting] stuff."
At a time when the Navy and Marine Corps are putting more men and women in areas they have never sent them to, future of the military still relies on what the Navy refers to as Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS), or unmanned vehicles.
The UCLASS system, Mabus said, will act as "a bridge between today" and what he referred to as "autonomous strike packages," achieving the reliability and decision-making results of a manned strike, minus the man or woman.
The Northrop Grumman X-47B, or Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS), made history in April 2015 by completing the first-ever fully autonomous aerial refueling of a UCLASS vehicle.
Mabus also addressed the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps combined budget, $170 billion, which remains one of the largest in military history despite efforts to cut costs via renewable energy pursuits and competitive business strategies in manufacturing. UCLASS serves as an extension of the budgetary approach he brought to the Navy in 2009.
"The good news is that [unmanned] is relatively cheap and easy to do," Mabus said. "The bad news is that it is relatively cheap and easy to do—we aren’t the only ones working on this."
Mabus said the Navy and Marine Corps remain as targets for further audit and budgetary cutbacks.
"I think we should take a look at whether we need certain functions," Mabus said, in reference to a particular utility, Defense Finance and Accounting Services (or DFAS), which charges the Navy and Marine Corps nearly $300 million to manage their paycheck disbursement.
"The services shouldn’t be immune [either] … the world is getting smaller, quicker, and cheaper, the world with the exception of the Department of Defense."
Mabus advocated for continuing spending in specific areas of production, aiming to reduce the impact of any budget constraints on ship manufacturing that occurs at shipyards such as Huntington Ingalls in Mississippi, where Mabus once served as governor.
The U.S. Navy currently operates its smallest fleet since World War I, with just 274 active warships by definition of the Pentagon. This comes despite new ship building increasing dramatically during the tenure of Mabus.
"I’m going to protect shipbuilding, regardless of what happens in the budget."
Mabus stressed the importance of U.S. maritime forces, particularly in light of recent events far outreaching the immediate action of ground forces.
"We are America’s away team," Mabus said. "You have to have that presence to give the leaders options."