Navy to Field ‘Optionally Unmanned’ Vessels to Supplement Future Surface Combatant
By: Megan Eckstein
June 25, 2018 4:22 PM
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Navy’s Future Surface Combatant will likely include both an unmanned and an optionally unmanned surface vessel as part of a growing family of systems, as the Navy works through how manned/unmanned teaming can provide the biggest benefits at various phases of warfare.
Officials previously described the Future Surface Combatant program as having a large, small and unmanned variant – like a cruiser or destroyer, a Littoral Combat Ship or a frigate, and something akin to the Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vessel that the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is working on. Increasingly, though, officials have begun talking about unmanned and optionally unmanned vessels as separate platforms.
https://news.usni.org/2018/06/25/navy-looking-at-optionally-unmanned-vessel-to-supplement-future-surface-combatant-program
