ATLANTIC OCEAN – An Aerosonde unmanned aircraft system launches from the flight deck of Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Burlington (T-EPF 10) during U.S. 4th Fleet’s Hybrid Fleet Campaign Event in the Atlantic Ocean October 10, 2023. Today the Aerosonde provided aerial targeting information and visual confirmation, allowing an unmanned surface vehicle to fire an inert Poniard rocket at an afloat target, and then perform battle damage assessment, marking the first complete unmanned kill chain for these systems. The Hybrid Fleet Campaign Event, previously referred to as Fleet Experimentation Program (FLEX), provides an opportunity for the Office of Naval Research’s Scientists-to-Sea program to witness research and development progress for, and demonstrations of, unmanned systems and their adaptations in support of the Chief of Naval Operations Navigation Plan 2022. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist John R. Fischer/Released)