Honorable Sec. Hegseth:
As of 2025, regardless of how sophisticated search and rescue operation capabilities are, the statistics of recovering a man overboard is at 46% on average. Not all participating vessels have the same aerial and sea capabilities but they all participate priority one. This video covers many current aspects but to get us closer to that 100% mark, I still think having electrified drones and jetson type aerial assets that are modular in nature would bring us a long ways towards that goal. They spin up instantly, are lighter weight, can carry enough rescue equipment to provide immediate assistance, take up less space therefor providing dispersion, and would complement our current assets and cover great ranges in less time. Modular capabilities should include: strike, recon, medivac, supply chain, loitering, or whatever capabilities are needed. As per video, 2k sq miles over 48 hours, still resulted in a lost at sea unfortunately. For the space that it would take to store 3 planes, we could stack a ready to deploy tower 100 drones and jetsons, having a preconfig payload ready of the above modular operations. Some jetson types can already fly for up to 2 hours at 100 mph, and drones even more. Imagine having 50 of them preconfig for man over board operations. I believe that would get us there and small vessels even if they carried as little as 10 or 20 would be enhanced. ThankQ for your attention to this matter.