Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-California) wants to request funds for the U.S. Coast Guard to procure land-based unmanned aerial vehicles to support the service branch’s surveillance missions, Navy Times reported Tuesday.
Meghann Myers writes the Coast Guard has long relied on UAVs from the Customs and Border Protection to aid in maritime interdiction operations.
The report said Hunter, chairman of the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation subcommittee, sent a letter to CBP Monday asking the agency to specify how many times it has denied unmanned aerial surveillance assistance requests from the service branch.
He seeks to prove that Coast Guard needs to build its own fleet of UAVs because it regularly asks for drone backup, according to Myers’ article.
The House Armed Services Committee has put language in a fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill that would require the service branch to only procure systems that are certified by the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, Myers noted.