The Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee recently called for an increased focus on the development of unmanned maritime vessels to strengthen our nation’s armed forces, and AUVSI urges fellow lawmakers and national security officials to take note.
 
Democratic Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed spoke during a virtual Ronald Reagan Institute event on May 11^th, during which he emphasized the importance of technologically evolved ships over merely large numbers of traditional vessels.
 
“One of the things – and I think [former Defense] Secretary [Mark] Esper tried to emphasize…was we have to move more toward autonomous vehicles and particularly surface vehicles and sub-surface vehicles” said Sen. Reed. “Don’t send a manned vessel where you can send an autonomous vehicle. And I think that would actually be able to be cheaper in many respects and also be more destabilizing to our opponents.”
 
Strong Government Support for Military Unmanned Systems
Congressional and Executive Branch leadership of our nation’s military forces is strong, and Defense Sec. Austin, Deputy Sec. Def. Hicks, and the House Armed Services Committee have all been on the record supporting the further integration of unmanned systems into our armed forces.
 
A recent AUVSI conference on maritime defense applications for autonomous technologies further drove home this point, as attendees heard from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations as well as the Executive Office on Unmanned and Small Combatants about plans for increased unmanned underwater vessel (UUV) and unmanned surface vessel (USV) deployment.
 
AUVSI Leadership on UUV/USV Integration into the U.S. Navy
AUVSI’s Maritime Advocacy Committee (MAC) is a staunch advocate of the argument expressed by Sen. Reed, in that as we work on advancing our nation’s armed forces, we should look towards powerful new technology that can further protect soldier’s lives as opposed to maintaining yesteryear’s weapons.
 
“We are encouraged by the public statement of support for UMS by Chairman Reed. AUVSI MAC members are innovators in this field and we will continue to aggressively promote our force multiplier technologies to keep the warfighter out of harm's way,” said Mike Smitsky, AUVSI Director of Government Affairs.
 
To learn more about the AUVSI MAC, email Mike at msmitsky@auvsi.org.