Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead is reluctant to invest in sensor advancements for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) until they have power systems sufficient to give them long-dwell capability of three to four weeks.

"Right now, I'm quite pleased with where we are in our sensor development for those vehicles, and I do believe we have a handle on how we network those systems to maintain our information dominance," Roughead said at the show yesterday. "But all of that is merely interesting without long duration, shipboard-safe UUV power."

He said the Navy plans to spend heavily over the next five years "to tackle the fundamental questions of endurance."

The solution could be a combination of power sources. Roughead said he'd even consider nuclear power, although that brings a series of security and environmental challenges.

Source: Flight Daily News