Navy leaders push faster acquisition, urge flexibility to field unmanned systems
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Summary
Admiral Kilby and Secretary Phelan supported acquisition reform and a naval rapid capabilities approach to speed unmanned air, surface and undersea platforms into service, telling the committee the Navy needs flexibility to iterate quickly given rapidly changing commercial technologies.
Witnesses told the House Armed Services Committee that acquisition reform is essential to field unmanned systems and other rapidly evolving technologies faster.
Admiral James Kilby said the Navy should “abandon the idea that we have to have an approved program of record before we proceed” for certain capabilities, notably unmanned systems. He described work to establish a rapid capabilities office that would cover the entire Navy and accelerate fielding of unmanned air, surface and undersea systems.
Secretary Phelan and Kilby argued the acquisition regime should retain enough rigidity to support traditional large programs while creating parallel flexible paths for fast‑moving unmanned technologies. “We are gonna need some rigidity to make our traditional platforms, some consistency that allows you to fund and develop things and have confidence in the program, and at the same time, some flexibility to develop the unmanned things that we’re not wedded to,” Kilby said.
Phelan repeatedly invoked Ukraine and recent operations in the Red Sea as examples of rapid technological evolution and argued the Navy must adopt private‑sector-style iteration: test quickly, accept that early versions will change, and provide acquisition flexibility. “We are going to need more flex when we spend, particularly in unmanned, because of the speed,” he said.
Committee members pressed for legislation and tools to enable that flexibility; members and witnesses discussed the bipartisan Speed Act and a proposed rapid capabilities office inside the naval aviation enterprise as possible mechanisms. Lawmakers encouraged use of creative teaming agreements between traditional firms and nontraditional suppliers to expand the industrial base.
The witnesses also discussed specific unmanned programs such as MQ‑25 (unmanned carrier tanker), Pack Fleet (nontraditional sea denial), and commercial undersea systems the Navy is testing, and urged the committee to provide acquisition authorities that permit rapid buy and iteration while preserving oversight for larger, multi‑year buys.