Some Unmanned Programs Make Progress, Others Make Do

摘要

Despite a Defense Department shift in strategy aims for the 21st century emphasizing intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, several unmanned air system programs are taking a hit in the Pentagon's fiscal 2013 budget request.rnIn January, when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the new strategic guidance shifting Pentagon focus to the Asia Pacific region, he said future defense "will protect, and in some cases increase, our investments" in new technologies like ISR and unmanned systems. Officials stressed that the decisions made in the 2013 budget would be driven by strategic needs and not the $487 billion in cuts over 10 years required by the Budget Control Act passed by Congress in 2011.