unmanned systems Archives - Defense Daily

Navy Reveals Long-Term MUSV Fleet Size; Using OTA For Off The Shelf Vehicles

Rich Abott — Fri, 15 May 2026 21:41:35 +0000

The Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan published on May 11 revealed more details about how the service plans to acquire Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (MUSVs), including the acquisition strategy and long-term […]

Blue Water Autonomy Announces Power, Propulsion, Manufacturing Partners

Cal Biesecker — Thu, 07 May 2026 21:43:52 +0000

Autonomous vessel developer Blue Water Autonomy on Thursday announced some of its key partners for the supply and production of its Liberty Class ship it has entered into the Navy’s […]

MARTAC USV Completes Eight Day Autonomous Demo For Navy

Rich Abott — Thu, 07 May 2026 21:43:04 +0000

Unmanned surface vehicle (USV) developer Maritime Tactical Systems, Inc. (MARTAC) this week announced its T38 Devil Ray vehicle recently completed an eight-day long autonomous test mission for the Navy. A […]

DARPA Looks To Next-Gen Small Autonomous Undersea Vehicles

Rich Abott — Wed, 06 May 2026 21:06:46 +0000

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) last month released a solicitation for its two year-long Deep Thoughts program looking to rapidly develop next-generation small autonomous undersea vehicles (AUVs) in […]

Navy Leaders Want More Industry Entrants, Potentially Multiple Vendors Per Program

Rich Abott — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 21:58:44 +0000

Navy leadership this week emphasized the need for the Pentagon to move faster and deliver more capability includes using new entrants and potentially using multiple vendors for munitions programs. Newly […]

Anduril Adds Edison Chouest Offshore For MUSV Production In The U.S.

Cal Biesecker — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:41:36 +0000

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD.—Anduril Industries, which last fall announced a partnership with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to design and develop autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) to meet requirements of the U.S. Navy, […]

U.S. Razorback UUV Launched From French Sub

Rich Abott — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:57:43 +0000

The U.S. and French navies recently demonstrated interoperability by launching a U.S. Razorback Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) from a French nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). In the operation, a French Suffren-class […]

Caudle Sees Frustration In Navy MUSV Changes, Previews Containerization Plan

Rich Abott — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 21:48:08 +0000

The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) on Tuesday acknowledged industry’s frustration with changing Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) plans after the latest switch from the Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) […]

Navy Changes MUSV Plans Again, Cancelling MASC And Switches To Marketplace Family Of Systems Approach

Rich Abott — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:59:05 +0000

The Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Robotic and Autonomous Systems (PAE RAS) on Thursday announced it was cancelling the Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) medium-sized Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) program […]

Anduril Nabs First Spot In DIU’s XLUUV Prototype Effort, Aims To Avoid Orca Pitfalls

Rich Abott — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 11:22:20 +0000

Anduril Industries on Thursday announced it was selected for the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform Project (CAMP) and will begin a long-duration demonstration of its Dive-XL autonomous […]

DIU Seeks Larger Capacity Autonomous Low Profile Sea Vehicles For Shore Resupply

Rich Abott — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 22:18:39 +0000

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has issued a new solicitation seeking more solutions for larger capacity Autonomous Low Profile Vehicles (ALPV) that can help resupply forces ashore in contested environments. […]

Sub Forces Commander Pushes To Maintain SSN(X) Support, Continue Unmanned Development To Keep Advantage Over China

Rich Abott — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 22:50:40 +0000

The commander of Naval Submarine Forces on Monday argued it is “critically important” the government continues supporting the SSN(X) next generation nuclear-powered attack submarine program to maintain its advantage over […]

U.S. Confirms First Combat Use Of Low-Cost, One-Way Attack Drones In Iran Strikes

Matthew Beinart — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 21:22:20 +0000

U.S. Central Command has confirmed it used low-cost one-way attack drones in combat for the first time as part of Saturday’s military strikes on Iran. The drones were employed by […]

Spending Plan Outlines How Navy Seeks To Expand UUV Production, Confirms Shift Away From Orca XLUUV

Rich Abott — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:13:27 +0000

A Pentagon plan submitted to Congress outlining how it will spend funds from the 2025 reconciliation bill includes details on how it will expand production of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) […]

Kratos, GE Win Air Force Contract For GEK1500 Engine Preliminary Design

Rich Abott — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:20:26 +0000

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] announced it and partner GE Aerospace [GE] recently won an Air Force contract to finish the preliminary design of their new GK1500 engine aimed […]

Navy To Test Unmanned Tailored Force Pairings With Roosevelt Strike Group; Small USV With LCS

Rich Abott — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 21:10:34 +0000

The Navy is preparing to start experimenting with pairing unmanned surface vessels (USVs) with carrier strike groups and other surface vessels this year as it begins testing the Chief of […]

Blue Water Autonomy Unveils Details For 190-Foot USV With Eyes On MASC

Cal Biesecker — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 14:00:10 +0000

Blue Water Autonomy on Wednesday introduced details of its first autonomous unmanned surface vessel (USV), the 190-foot Liberty Class, which is based on a proven hull design and is expected […]

BlackSea Conducts Keel Laying For New NightTrain Autonomous Logistics Vessel

Rich Abott — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:31:20 +0000

BlackSea Technologies on Jan. 30 conducted a formal keel-laying ceremony marking the start of construction on its NightTrain autonomous logistics vessel. Night Train is the company’s autonomous, low-profile logistics vessel […]

HII Doubles The Size Of UK Unmanned Vehicle Facility

Rich Abott — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 22:03:20 +0000

HII [HII] this week announced it has completed an expansion to double the size of its unmanned vehicle facility in Porchester, United Kingdom, strengthening its capability as a regional hub […]

Hanwha And HavocAI To Develop 200-Foot Autonomous Ship Aimed At Navy MASC

Rich Abott — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:03:50 +0000

Korean conglomerate Hanwha’s U.S. defense business last week announced it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with American autonomy developer HavocAI to jointly develop a 200-foot autonomous surface vessel (ASV) […]

Textron Sells U.S. Navy One Tsunami USV For AUKUS Testing

Rich Abott — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 22:13:20 +0000

Textron Systems [TXT] on Wednesday announced it sold a single 21-foot version of its new Tsunami unmanned surface vessel (USV) to a U.S. Navy warfare center to participate in an […]

Navy Looks To Cancel Orca XLUUV And GARC USV Programs In Favor Of Others, Memo Says

Rich Abott — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 22:56:58 +0000

The Navy’s draft plan for a new unmanned acquisition office calls for canceling and redirecting funding of both the Boeing [BA] Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) and BlackSea […]

Navy’s New Unmanned Acquisition Office Set To Absorb 66 Programs Across All Domains

Rich Abott — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 22:41:25 +0000

The Navy’s plans for the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Robotic Autonomous System (PAE RAS) office will have it absorb 66 unmanned system programs across six current Program Executive Offices and 18 […]

SAIC And HavocAI Team Up To Link Autonomous Fleets With Command And Control Infrastructure

Rich Abott — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 22:19:11 +0000

Science Applications International Corp. [SAIC] and autonomy developer HavocAI on Wednesday announced a new partnership to integrate the former’s real-time multi-domain communications and data system with the latter’s autonomous maritime […]

Anduril Partners With HD Hyundai To Develop Navy MASC Bid, Family of USVs

Rich Abott — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 22:39:02 +0000

Anduril Industries and South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries on Thursday announced a partnership to design and produce a new family of dual-use Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASVs), including a variant […]

Seasats Inks Deal With Aussie Firm To Resell USVs In Region

Rich Abott — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 20:41:53 +0000

Unmanned surface vessel (USV) developer Seasats on Wednesday announced a formal agreement with Australian firm Elysium EPL, making it the exclusive reseller of their platforms in Australia and New Zealand. […]

Boeing’s Wave Glider USVs Mark 3 Million Miles

Rich Abott — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 22:31:38 +0000

Boeing [BA] this week boasted that its Wave Glider unmanned surface vessels (USVs) have traveled a combined total of more than three million nautical miles on various worldwide missions. Wave […]

Lockheed Martin Invests $50 Million In Saildrone, Plan To Integrate Weapons On USVs

Rich Abott — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 21:28:21 +0000

Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Wednesday announced a $50 million investment in maritime drone maker Saildrone, with plans to integrate weapons and other systems onto their unmanned surface vessels (USVs). Work […]

Korea’s Hanwha To Partner With HavocAI On Unmanned Maritime Systems

Rich Abott — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 15:40:12 +0000

Korean conglomerate Hanwha on Tuesday night said it is looking to collaborate with the American maritime autonomy technology developer and manufacturer HavocAI to pursue joint work on unmanned maritime systems […]

HII Tests REMUS 620 Submarine Torpedo Tube Recovery

Rich Abott — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 18:19:20 +0000

HII [HII] this week announced its REMUS 620 unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) successfully completed its first recovery via a submarine torpedo tube test fixture. The test was conducted by a […]

BlackSea Unveils its Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel Bid For U.S. Navy

Rich Abott — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 20:55:23 +0000

BlackSea Technologies on Monday unveiled its bid for the latest incarnation of the Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV), the Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC), based around its GARC Replicator […]

Navy Tests New Autonomous Launching And Recovery Of Small Boats, USVs

Rich Abott — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 21:13:35 +0000

The Navy recently announced it has started testing a promising technology from Israel’s Sealartec to autonomously launch and recover small boats via a technology testing platform vessel. It tested the […]

HII Expands Ingalls DDG Outsourcing Partners, Announces Thales And Babcock Work With Remus UUV

Rich Abott — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 09:28:34 +0000

U.S. Navy shipbuilder HII [HII] this week detailed the status of its outsourcing partnerships for Navy ship production while also marking coordination with Thales and Babcock International Group on systems […]

Anduril Wins $1.12 Billion Australia Contract For Ghost Shark USV

Rich Abott — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 21:39:48 +0000

Australia on Wednesday announced it is investing $1.12 billion to acquire a fleet of dozens of Anduril’s Australian‑designed and built Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous undersea vehicles (AUVs). The Australian Defense […]

Leidos Stays Mum During Navy MASC USV Review, But Combining Sea Hunter And Overlord USVs

Rich Abott — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 18:04:50 +0000

While some companies are publicizing their bids on the Navy’s newest Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) competition, Leidos [LDOS] is more subtly noting the strength of combining two MUSV designs […]

Flurry Of Companies Publicize Navy MUSV Options

Rich Abott — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 21:38:15 +0000

Several companies have begun to publicize their options for and ability to produce Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (MUSVs) geared at the Navy’s latest Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) Program during […]

Leidos Starts Building New Small USV In Australia, Faster Variant Of Marine Corps ALPV

Rich Abott — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 21:51:24 +0000

Leidos [LDOS] on Tuesday announced it has started work on an Australian-build of its Sea Archer small unmanned surface vessel (USV), based around being a faster version of the Marine […]

Anduril Confirms Selection For Navy Carrier-Based CCA Design Development

Rich Abott — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 21:47:59 +0000

Anduril on Friday confirmed it is one of the vendors selected by the Navy to develop designs for a carrier-ready Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). “We are focused on delivering an […]

SECNAV Establishes New Robotic And Autonomous Systems Program Office, Consolidating Portfolios

Rich Abott — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 21:33:31 +0000

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has directed a significant reorganization and consolidation of the service’s robotic and autonomous (RAS) efforts, including creating a new deputy assistant secretary of the […]

Second Saildrone USV Gets ABS Classification

Rich Abott — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 18:39:07 +0000

Saildrone on Wednesday announced its Surveyor-class unmanned surface vehicle (USV) received full classification from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), its second vehicle to do so. Previously, Saildrone’s Voyager-class USV […]

SecNav Establishes Naval Rapid Capabilities Office, Consolidating Other Offices

Rich Abott — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 21:43:24 +0000

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan recently established a new Naval Rapid Capabilities Office (NRCO), which will consolidate the work of several other offices established in previous administrations. According to […]

Navy Plans To Deploy USV In Carrier Strike Group By End Of 2026

Rich Abott — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 21:33:07 +0000

Navy officials revealed the service plans to deploy the first carrier strike group to include an unmanned surface vessel (USV) by the end of next year during a larger discussion […]

DARPA Christens Prototype USV, Finishing Testing Ahead of Demo

Rich Abott — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 12:23:49 +0000

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on Monday christened its prototype for the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, the USX-1 Defiant, as it finishes testing in preparation for […]

Germany’s Rhenmetall To Integrate Autonomous Underwater Vehicle To Coastal Defense System

Rich Abott — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 16:17:16 +0000

The Germany-based EUROATLAS on Wednesday announced it agreed to a strategic partnership to integrate its Greyshark autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with Rheinmetall ‘s coastal defense system while also emphasizing sovereign […]

Seasats Unmanned Vehicle Completes Trans-Pacific Voyage

Rich Abott — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:29:33 +0000

Seasats on Wednesday announced one of its Lightfish autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) reached Japan in a trans-pacific voyage from San Diego after launching in January. When first launched, the company […]

Navy Opens MASC USV Program, Seeking Proposals For Three Variants

Rich Abott — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 21:36:06 +0000

The Navy opened a solicitation this week for proposals on its new Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) medium-sized Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) program, looking into three variants. The Navy noted […]

Navy Used BALTOPS Exercise To Demonstrate USV Tactics, Evaluating Vessels

Rich Abott — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 09:37:30 +0000

The head of a Navy task force focused on evaluating and using lower cost unmanned systems for 6th Fleet said recent testing at the Baltic Operations 2025 (BALTOPS) maritime exercise […]

Saildrone Envisions European Expansion After Baltic Sea Exercises

Rich Abott — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 20:53:24 +0000

The founder and CEO of unmanned surface vessel (USV) company Saildrone said the company is ripe for significant expansion to more European customers following a June NATO test and demonstration […]

GAO Says Navy To Merge MUSV and LUSV Programs, Skeptical XLUUV To Become Program Of Record

Rich Abott — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 20:56:46 +0000

The Navy plans to merge the programs for the Large and Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (LUSV and MUSV) into a single autonomous surface craft program while delays to the Orca […]

BlackSea Technologies Contributes GARC USV And Support Ship To Operation Southern Spear

Rich Abott — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 20:25:42 +0000

BlackSea Technologies on Wednesday revealed it is participating in the robotic-heavy Operation Southern Spear under U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/4th Fleet in the Caribbean Sea. The company said it is […]