SECNAV Mabus says F-35C should be Navy's last manned strike jet, UCAS-D to boneyard

SECNAV’s Prepared Remarks at Sea-Air-Space 2015 | Navy Live

SECNAV: F-35C should be Navy's last manned strike jet
The F-35C "should be, and almost certainly will be, the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a speech Wednesday at the annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition outside Washington, D.C. Fighter jocks would still be needed for dogfighting, but Mabus envisions a future when strike missions will be fulfilled by unmanned aircraft.
Mabus announced the creation of the N99 Navy staff office for unmanned weapons systems and a new position for deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for unmanned systems.
"Unmanned systems, particularly autonomous ones, have to be the new normal in ever-increasing areas," he said.
The announcement came the same day as a milestone test for the Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration program, the first of three aerial refueling tests that mark the program's concluding step.
Following the tests, the two UCAS jets will be sent to an aviation museum or to the aircraft boneyard in Arizona, Capt. Beau Duarte, Carrier Unmanned Aviation program manager, said Tuesday at the exposition.