The Defense Department’s need for unmanned aircraft continues to increase but the technology to operate them is reaching its limitation.

The automation will increase the number of platforms and missions while minimizing the number of personnel. Fewer pilots will be able to manage several unmanned aircrafts on missions using autonomous fight software. The new technology will also allow large amounts of data to be transmitted to personnel in the US instead of needing onsite analysts.

Initial reports estimate total spending over the next 10 years to be approximately $80 billion.