Navy unmanned PM says COVID-19 adding costs, strain to on-water testing

The Navy's program office for unmanned maritime systems has not yet seen major schedule delays due to the coronavirus, but the pandemic has added challenges and costs associated with on-water testing, according to the officer in charge.

"We haven't been hugely impacted from a schedule perspective, but it has added strain and burden and complications in attempting to stay on schedule while implementing coronavirus mitigations," Capt. Pete Small, unmanned maritime systems program manager, told Inside Defense in a Sept. 18 interview.

Small said his office has several vehicle programs moving forward with on-water testing such as the Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Surface Vessel and work with the Strategic Capabilities Office's Project Overlord prototype.

"That involves teams of people in relative close proximity to each other to operate and deploy those unmanned systems . . . [or] people onboard the vessels in relative close proximity to each other, so we have had to work through mitigations to keep those people safe," he said.

Part of the increased costs comes from personnel needing to quarantine for up to two weeks while traveling to and from test sites, Small said.

How much the coronavirus pandemic has affected individual Navy programs and exercises has varied on a case-by-case basis.

Inside Defense reported last month a full-rate production decision for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle had to be postponed due to "temporary closures and reduced staffing" at test sites.

The Navy last month also held its biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise despite all of the services canceling various exercises planned this year.

A Pentagon white paper obtained by Inside Defense in August estimated the programmatic issues caused by the pandemic between March 15 and June 15 would cost the Defense Department roughly $11 billion across the services; $4.7 billion of that money would be tied to the Navy.