Overview
- A draft plan reviewed by USNI News shows the Navy creating a Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Robotics and Autonomous Systems to bring about 60 unmanned programs under one accountable lead reporting to the service acquisition chief.
- Acting Navy acquisition head Jason Potter said the new RAS portfolio is the first PAE and is advancing now, with early tasks including running the Modular Attack Surface Craft competition and taking over Defense Autonomous Warfare Group procurement.
- The RAS portfolio would manage roughly $19 billion over five years and excludes major unmanned aircraft like MQ‑4 Triton, MQ‑9A Reaper and MQ‑25A, according to the draft.
- Separately, the Army named six PAEs across capability areas, embedded senior contracting officials to speed awards, and is targeting initial operating capability in January 2026 with dual reporting to T2COM and ASA(ALT).
- Across the department, the CTO cut the critical‑technology list from 14 to six, the Pentagon is pressing modular open systems architectures, and a CMMC final rule has begun a four‑phase rollout that raises industry questions about Level 2 assessment capacity.