Unmanned Money

The House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee has refused to grant permission to shift $16 million in RQ-7B unmanned aerial system funding from the Navy's aircraft procurement budget into the service's research and development account for small tactical UAS.

DOD wanted to shift the Military Intelligence Program (MIP) funds out of the Navy's aircraft procurement budget:

Funds are available because of a shift in focus to shipboard operations. The RQ-7B UAS is not shipboard compatible. The RQ-7B UAS will not upgrade 2 of the 13 RQ-7B Shadow Unmanned Air Systems with the Tactical Common Data Link.

The department wanted the funding in the "Small (Level 0) Tactical UAS" line in the Navy's research, development, test and evaluation budget:

Funds are required to integrate a heavy fuel engine onto RQ-21. force rebalancing and the Marine Corps focus on shipboard operations have prioritized the need to accelerate amphibious Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance. Integration of a heavy fuel engine will be the first step in enabling the extension of the current RQ-21 range and will influence a significant area of the battle space and reduce ground control station requirements.

The refusal is highlighted in a two-page, May 30 Defense Department MIP reprogramming request, where the above text was crossed out.