Maritime Unmanned: From Global Hawk to Triton - Hardcover

by Ernest M. Snowden (Author), Robert F. Wood (Author)

Maritime Unmanned recounts the promising beginning, demoralizing setbacks, and ultimate success of the visionaries who championed unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) technology for the U.S. Navy. Ernest Snowden and Robert F. Wood Jr. dive deep inside the machinations of aerospace and defense industry leadership, strategy development, and execution to describe the process by which the Air Force's Global Hawk was adapted to become the Navy's Triton. This was the first time in the history of naval aviation that an unmanned aerial vehicle was adopted into frontline squadron inventories to become an enabling component of the maritime patrol and reconnaissance mission, a process that took more than twenty years as industry representatives and Navy counterparts developed and socialized an unfamiliar and unconventional concept of operations and senior government acquisition officials either advocated or purposely road-blocked its advancement.

Author Biography

Ernest M. Snowden is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a former naval aviator. After active duty, he continued in the Navy Reserve as an aeronautical engineering duty officer until retirement. As a Navy civilian, he was the business manager for maintenance policy in the Naval Air Systems Command, then staff assistant to the Deputy Director for Research and Engineering in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He worked for a succession of aerospace and defense firms in marketing and strategy positions. He lives in McLean, Virginia.

Robert F. Wood is a retired naval aviator and a veteran of the Gulf War with seven deployments, 4,000 flight hours, 750 carrier landings, and command of an F/A-18 Hornet squadron to his credit. His final tour of duty was for the Director, Air Warfare on the staff of the Office of the CNO (OPNAV N88) as the F/A-18 Requirements Officer. Since his retirement, he has pursued a twenty-three-year career in business as a senior executive and consultant in the aerospace and defense industries. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.