Navy plan for carrier-based drones takes flak from lawmakers

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-carrier-drone-fight-20140607-story.html



An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator flies over the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). George H.W. Bush is the first aircraft carrier to successfully catapult launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck.

Navy plan for carrier-based drones takes flak from lawmakers
W.J. Hennigan
June 6, 2014

~snip~

But key congressional leaders want cutting-edge warplanes, stealthy drones that can attack key targets in contested areas with little more than a mouse click. If they get their way, the program, which would produce the military's first carrier-based drones, could end aviation as the Navy has known it, observers say.

"It could usher in a new era in which major strike missions are turned over to a machine. That will be difficult for many carrier aviators to swallow," said Samuel D. Brannen, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Pentagon strategist.

The Navy's plans to deploy the drones within the next decade came to an abrupt halt this month when key members of Congress said the program is shortsighted. Lawmakers halted all funding until the secretary of Defense can complete a top-to-bottom review.

Four of the nation's largest military weapons makers are waiting to see how the skirmish plays out: Northrop Grumman Corp., Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. Much of these companies' drone operations are based in Southern California, and they would welcome the work at a time when defense spending on weapons is expected to shrink.