
A panel of experts gave a tentative thumbs up to the Navy’s new plan to develop a carrier-based unmanned tanker aircraft, but told a House panel on Feb. 11 that eventually the service needs to field the deep-penetrating strike and reconnaissance asset it planned to under the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program.The Navy in the 2017 budget request announced it would replace the UCLASS program with an effort called the Carrier-Based Aerial Refueling System (CBARS), a more…