The US Navy has delayed the planned in-service date for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft by three years from fiscal year (FY) 2020 to FY2023, according to US Navy budget documents. Contractors working on responses to the UCLASS proposal - Boeing, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman - must now wait until the second quarter of FY2016 for the Department of Defense to issue the formal request for proposals. Revised contract award date is Q2 FY2017 and the first flight for the winning aircraft is now planned for Q3 2020. That was the year when it was originally intended to achieve initial operational capability, but that will now only take place three years later. The USN's FY2016 funding request for research and development for the UCLASS programme is US$135 million, down from the FY2015 request of $403 million.
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