GAO - Navy Needs to Match Its UCLASS Requirements and Available Resources

X-47B UCAS-D to UCLASS: The Road Ahead
| Defense Media Network

The problem of deciding what UCLASS will look like and be capable of will be defined by the Navy’s program requirement, which has been developed through the inputs of a number of different groups from the Navy and the Department of Defense (DoD). It is the varying opinions of what UCLASS should do and be that have been the cause of so much concern and confusion in recent months.

It is the varying opinions of what UCLASS should do and be that have been the cause of so much concern and confusion in recent months.

The problems begin in late 2012, when the original Navy UCLASS requirement was submitted to the DoD’s Joint Requirements Oversight Committee (JROC). Headed by Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. James Winnefeld, the JROC severely “dialed back” the Navy’s robust UCLASS requirement that previously had included strike/reconnaissance missions into “contested” airspace. Instead, the revised JROC requirement projected a more surveillance-oriented mission set in “permissive”/undefended areas, with only a limited strike mission and a payload similar to the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper. While the justification for this revision was never fully explained by DoD, there appear to have been several reasons for their reluctance to specify a more capable and robust UCLASS, including:

AUVSI: Future UCLASS requirements pose questions on worth of X-47B - 5/4/2015 - Flight Global
The US Government Accountability Office has warned that unless the US Navy carefully considers its requirements for the service's future unmanned, carrier-launched surveillance and strike (UCLASS) programme it risks rendering redundant any research carried out so far.
While UCLASS has been delayed by some three years amid indecision on the likely role for the aircraft, testing has been carried out on the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator that most recently achieved an aviation first when it performed an autonomous in-flight refuelling in mid-April.

U.S. GAO - Unmanned Carrier-Based Aircraft System: Navy Needs to Demonstrate Match between Its Requirements and Available Resources

Since our last review in September 2013, the intended mission and required capabilities of the Navy's Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system have come into question. Ongoing debate about whether the primary role of the UCLASS system should be mainly surveillance with limited strike or mainly strike with limited surveillance has delayed the program, as shown in the figure. Requirements emphasizing a strike role with limited surveillance could
be more demanding and costly.

Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike Program Delays

^aEarly operational capability is currently not anticipated before fiscal year 2022 and could occur as late as fiscal year 2023.

The knowledge the Navy has obtained about the resources needed to develop the UCLASS system may no longer be applicable depending on what requirements are finally chosen. GAO's prior best practices work has found that before initiating system development, a program should present an executable business case that demonstrates that it has a high level of knowledge and a match between requirements and available resources. If the final UCLASS requirements emphasize a strike role with
limited surveillance, the Navy will likely need to revisit its understanding of available resources in the areas of design knowledge, funding, and technologies before awarding an air system development
contract.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that before committing significant resources the Navy should ensure that it has an executable business case for UCLASS development that matches available resources to required capabilities. On behalf of DOD, the Navy generally agreed with the recommendation.

Once the Joint Requirements Oversight Council has validated UCLASS requirements, and in order to ensure that the Navy has a sound and executable business case and establishes an acquisition program baseline before awarding a development contract and committing significant resources, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Navy to provide a report to the congressional defense committees and the Secretary of Defense demonstrating that the Navy has the resources available and a strategy to deliver those required UCLASS capabilities. At a minimum this report should include:

1. An updated cost estimate; 
2. A schedule for holding a Milestone B review and establishing an acquisition program baseline before initiating system development; 
3. Plans for new preliminary design reviews and technology maturation if more demanding requirements are validated; and 
4. What consideration is being given to adopting an evolutionary acquisition approach. 

Forbes Calls on SECNAV Mabus to Extend X-47B Testing - USNI News

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) wants to keep the Navy’s two X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrators (UCAS-D) flying instead of sending the two unmanned vehicles to a museum or long term storage, according to a Thursday letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus obtained by USNI News.

NAVAIR has been adamant about shutting down the UCAS-D program, Navy leadership is still considering options for the Salty Dogs, a Mabus spokesperson told USNI News on Thursday.