According to a John Keller report in Military & Aerospace Electronics online site, U.S. military forces plan to spend nearly $5.4 billion next year on unmanned vehicle (UV) technology for air, ground, and maritime applications, according to identifiable unmanned vehicle line items in the fiscal 2010 U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) budget, which was released in May and sent to Congress for consideration.

The $5.4 billion proposed for UV technology next year is an increase of 18.4 percent over 2009 military unmanned vehicle spending of $4.53 billion. The actual amount proposed for unmanned vehicle development and related technology could be substantially higher, were UV components of larger procurement and research programs to be added. Proposed military unmanned vehicle spending next year is up substantially from 2008 UV spending of $3.9 billion. Over the past two years, Pentagon spending for unmanned vehicles has increased by 37.5 percent. These numbers reflect only the line items in the proposed 2010 DOD budget that specifically refer to unmanned vehicle technology. Federal fiscal year 2010 begins next Oct. 1. The Pentagon's unmanned vehicles spending plan for next year consists of $3.55 billion for procurement — that's up 16.16 percent from 2009, and $1.82 billion for research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) — up by 23 percent from 2009 levels. The vast majority of proposed DOD unmanned vehicle spending involves unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which the Pentagon often refers to as unmanned aerial systems (UASs). Relatively little of the DOD's UV budget is for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) or unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Unmanned aerial vehicles represent the most mature unmanned vehicle enabling technologies, and Pentagon observers say they expect spending for unmanned ground and marine vehicles to begin increasingly rapidly over the next several years as UGV and UUV technologies mature. To read the entire article, select this direct link.