According to a report from the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, published on April 9, 2018, the Department of Defense has requested over $9 billion for unmanned systems and similar technologies in next year’s budget. The department’s proposal includes funding for over 3,000 sea, ground, and air drones. This signals a significant expansion in unmanned systems spending, report authors claim.
The Pentagon’s tendencies have, at least in part, been confirmed by Aerospace engineer Dr. Mike Griffin. Griffin is the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. He oversees the activities of the Missile Defense Agency, the Strategic Capabilities Office, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the DoD Laboratory enterprise, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, as well as the Under Secretariate staff, focused on developing advanced technology and capability for the U.S. military.
Dr. Griffin spoke at the Future of War conference, hosted by the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., on April 9. He did not hesitate to sound the alarm about America’s inability to deal with thousand-drone swarms. At the conference, Griffin posed an interesting question.
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