The United States Department of Defense (DoD) remains the largest customer for unmanned/uncrewed systems technologies, with a $8.2 billion budget projected for FY 2022. Explore the data for all unmanned programs of record with unprecedented access to the source data as we track funding throughout the appropriations process — from the President’s proposed budget through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Executive Summary of Interactive Report
The United States (U.S.) Armed Forces are a primary adopter of unmanned systems, and numerous facets of unmanned systems and robotics — in the air, ground, and maritime domains — are currently being used to support deployed forces and counter a range of threats posed to national security. To support the continued adoption of new technologies that maintain competitiveness in an ever-developing security landscape, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) includes an estimated $8.2 billion to support the research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) and procurement of these technologies. This represents an increase of about $700 million for unmanned vehicles (UxV) relative to the budget from FY 2021.
Historically, UxV were considered simple tools which required the supervision and control of a remote operator to complete the “dull, dirty, and dangerous” tasks on the battlefield. While some of these basic forms of operation still exist, recent advancements in autonomy, sensors, energy/propulsion systems, and navigation/control systems have improved the efficiency and effectiveness of UxV, allowing them to function for long periods of time with minimal human input and oversight. Sustained investments in UxV systems will expand their uses, enabling DOD to more effectively allocate resources and speed response times in a hybrid fleet system. In fact, UxV have also ingrained themselves in the daily missions of soldiers to the extent that they are deemed an essential component of the operations team by their human operators.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) manages a range of programs and events to support the unmanned industry, and consistent feedback from members and attendees reflects their desire for more information on how DOD funds are spent in the unmanned arena. The purpose of this research is to present information on the range of technologies being developed and acquired by the U.S. DOD to support current and future UxV operations. With the U.S. Armed Forces at the forefront in advancing unmanned systems, understanding which technologies and capabilities are being procured and developed provides a strong understanding of the current direction of the industry and can help inform future investments. This analysis highlights the various unmanned vehicle RDT&E and procurement focus areas of the U.S. DOD Defense Budget.
In FY 2022, AUVSI has identified and captured data on over 280 RDT&E Program Elements (PEs) and more than 140 Procurement Line Items (LIs). These programs are associated with 15 different departments and agencies that seek to develop and deploy UxS in support of U.S. troops. The parameters captured for each of these efforts include domain(s) of operation (air, ground, maritime surface/sub-surface, counter-UAV, counter-UMV); funding type (procurement or RDT&E); funding amount for FY 2020 – 2022; and specific technologies supported (autonomy, communications/data management, cyber, electronic warfare, mobility, manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T), navigation/control, platform, propulsion/energy, sensors/payloads, simulation, training, and weapons). We then plugged this data set into Tableau allowing users to manipulate the infographics and find the information of interest. Please click on the link below to explore the range of infographics that we have created. Also, please reference the notes below which provide explanations for each of the infographics.
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