The U.S. Navy’s Submarine-Launched Aerial Drone Capacity Is Set To Greatly Expand

The AeroVironment Blackwing drone is about to be procured in significant numbers by the U.S. Navy, providing its submarines with an organic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capability that can be launched from below the waves. It’s the latest development in a field in which the Navy has been conducting test work for some time now, as you can read about in this past War Zone piece. In the meantime, it’s likely that the Navy has other similar capabilities already fielded, and perhaps even some examples of older Blackwings.

A request for proposal (RFP) today on the U.S. government’s contracting website beta.SAM.gov, revealed that the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) plans to buy up to 120 Blackwing 10C UAVs from the California-based company. Although the Blackwing is derived from the Switchblade loitering munition, or “suicide drone,” but the latest RFP, however, mentions only unarmed drones.