§4103 — Title 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters | U.S. Code

Summary

The NOAA Administrator must regularly check unmanned boats and other maritime robots that are on the market or publicly available to see if they could help NOAA’s missions. The Administrator uses the Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research to test if the systems meet NOAA’s data needs and budgets, and uses the Director to test if they are reliable and work in the field. They must work with the Unmanned Maritime Systems Ocean Technology Coordinating Committee and consult other NOAA offices, universities, and the systems’ developers and makers to do these reviews.

Title 33, §4103

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Administrator, acting through the Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Assistant Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for Marine and Aviation Operations and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, shall regularly assess publicly and commercially available unmanned maritime systems for potential use to support missions of the Administration.

(b)The Administrator shall carry out subsection (a) through the Assistant Administrator for all matters relating to assessment of the suitability, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of unmanned maritime systems to meet data specifications required by programs of the Administration.

(c)The Administrator shall carry out subsection (a) through the Director for all matters relating to assessment of whether unmanned maritime systems are operationally reliable, feasible, and cost effective enough to make observations required by programs of the Administration.

(d)The Assistant Administrator and the Director shall jointly—

(1)convene and consult the Unmanned Maritime Systems Ocean Technology Coordinating Committee established under section 4102(b) of this title; and

(2)consult with the heads of other offices of the Administration, the academic sector, and developers and manufacturers of unmanned maritime systems to conduct the assessments under subsection (a).

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2025—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 119–60 substituted “Assistant Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for” for “Director of the Office of”.

§4103 Regular assessment of unmanned maritime systems to support National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration missions

Summary

Title 33, §4103

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Citations & Metadata