The Pentagon is subbing out the use of the term “unmanned” in a nod to political correctness and will henceforth refer to “uncrewed” drones and other autonomous weapons. The change appears in the Pentagon’s latest annual report to Congress on the Chinese military made public this week.
The new wording affects three of the military’s acronym-heavy lexicon’s terms: UAS for unmanned aerial systems; UAV for unmanned aerial vehicles; and UCAV for unmanned combat aerial vehicles.
The new terms are “uncrewed aerial systems,” “uncrewed aerial vehicles,” and “uncrewed combat aerial vehicle.”
In the 194-page China military power report, the word uncrewed appears six times, including in a list of acronyms.