{"id":55378,"date":"2020-01-13T22:53:31","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T22:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/13\/heres-5-things-you-should-know-about-the-us-navys-plans-for-big-autonomous-missile-boats\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:06:07","slug":"heres-5-things-you-should-know-about-the-us-navys-plans-for-big-autonomous-missile-boats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/heres-5-things-you-should-know-about-the-us-navys-plans-for-big-autonomous-missile-boats\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things you should know about the US Navy\u2019s plans for autonomous missile boats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Navy\u2019s yearlong fight to convince lawmakers it needed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/01\/10\/does-the-us-navy-have-its-robot-warship-concept-all-wrong\/\" target=_blank>significant investment in unmanned ships <\/a>the size of offshore patrol vessels resulted in a kind of half victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy kicked off the drive this year, announcing it was programming $2.7 billion in funding to develop and field unmanned platforms over the next five years, during which it will buy two large unmanned surface vessels per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congress approved the purchase of two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/12\/21\/the-us-navy-gets-its-large-unmanned-surface-vessels-in-2020-with-strings-attached\/\" target=_blank>large unmanned surface vessels<\/a>, or LUSVs, but forbade the service from integrating a vertical launching system, which is where the Navy anticipates many of the technical difficulties inherent in its concept reside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But now that the program is going forward, what exactly is the Navy buying and what are the next steps?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are some some answers to a few of the questions you might have about the Navy\u2019s pursuit of big robot missile-shooting boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/01\/02\/fleet-commander-directs-the-us-navys-surface-force-to-develop-concepts-for-unmanned-ships\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sea-hunter-1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Fleet commander directs US Navy\u2019s surface force to develop concepts for unmanned ships<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. Navy is making moves to develop concepts for the integration of unmanned surface vessels into its surface fleet.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>1. What exactly is the Navy buying in 2020? <\/b>The Navy, spearheaded by Capt. Pete Small of the Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants, plans to buy two commercial fast-supply vessels, or FSV, which are used by the oil and gas industry to support offshore infrastructure. Those boats will be added to two similar boats procured by the Office of the Secretary of Defense\u2019s Strategic Capabilities Office for its Ghost Fleet Overlord program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ghost Fleet Overlord converted two FSVs into unmanned surface vessels and demonstrated \u201cautonomy system integration; demonstration of navigational autonomy; and hull, mechanical and electrical system reliability upgrades,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navsea.navy.mil\/Media\/News\/Article\/1976701\/new-phase-of-ghost-fleet-overlord-unmanned-surface-vessel-testing-begins\/\" target=\"_blank\">an October news release <\/a>from Small\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first phase of Overlord wrapped up this year with the boats demonstrating they can follow the rules of navigation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/03\/14\/a-classified-pentagon-maritime-drone-program-is-about-to-get-its-moment-in-the-sun\/\" target=_blank>on their own<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"606\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ghost.JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-35670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ghost.JPG.jpg 800w, https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ghost.JPG.jpg?resize=300,227 300w, https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ghost.JPG.jpg?resize=768,582 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">One of the two prototypes purchased by the Office of the Secretary of Defense&#8217;s Strategic Capabilities Office for its Ghost Fleet Overlord program, aimed at fielding an autonomous surface ship capable of launching missiles. (Photo: DoD)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>2. What does the Navy want these things for? <\/b>The Navy envisions the final product as an external missile magazine that can autonomously find its way to the fleet, expend missiles and work its way back to reload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a conference last fall, the Navy\u2019s top requirements officer, Vice Adm. James Kilby, described it this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe want to create an unmanned magazine,&#8221; said Kilby, who heads the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations\u2019 war-fighting requirements and capabilities office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd if you think about [it] from [that] perspective and I use that in conjunction with another force element where I can integrate fires, pass fire control from that element to the unmanned vehicle and deplete that magazine, send it back to reload, go back to using my magazine, wait for the unmanned magazine to return \u2014 I can sustain the fight longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Essentially the Navy is looking for a cheaper way to increase the number of vertical launch tubes in the fleet without, as Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/the-drift\/2019\/12\/11\/cno-sounds-off-the-drift-season-ii-vol-iv\/\" target=_blank>put it last year<\/a>, wrapping a $2 billion destroyer hull around 96 missile tubes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>3. How does the service plan to get there? <\/b>The Navy\u2019s plan is to build a fleet of prototypes to get lots of hours of experimentation in while gaining experience operating autonomous surface vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s how Small, who heads the Unmanned Maritime Systems office inside PEO Unmanned and Small Combatants, explains it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur FY20 plans for our large USVs focused on two areas,\u201d Small said during a June appearance at an American Society of Naval Engineers conference. \u201cOne area is: Get more prototypes out there. Some of our technical risk is in integrating military capabilities. So we need the prototypes to start integrating those capacities and burn down some of that risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe other piece of that is demonstrating reliability. We are going to have to do a lot of testing to demonstrate reliable autonomous behavior: We need tens of thousands of hours of USV operations to demonstrate the reliability we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHaving one prototype or two prototypes is not going to get us to tens of thousands of hours of operations in the time frame we think we are going to need to employ the capabilities. So we need more prototypes to get there and burn down the technical risk of the payload integration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the meantime, the head of Fleet Forces Command tasked surface navy boss Vice Adm. Richard Brown to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/01\/02\/fleet-commander-directs-the-us-navys-surface-force-to-develop-concepts-for-unmanned-ships\/\">deliver a concept of operations<\/a> by the end of the year that will, first and foremost, figure out what a working LUSV and medium unmanned surface vessel should be able to do for the fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2019\/12\/10\/congress-slows-the-us-navys-roll-toward-a-robot-ship-future\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sea_hunter.jpg_1957c3.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Congress slows the US Navy\u2019s roll toward a robot-ship future<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. Navy was all-in on unmanned surface vessels, but Congress is skeptical about whether the Navy knows what it wants.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>4. What are the issues? <\/b>Many. First, nobody knows if this is workable program, which is what the prototyping effort will determine. Program officials are quick to point out that autonomy is probably not where they will have issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of the prototyping we have been doing has been doing a great job to develop that technology, and it is ready to support the kind of modular approach we are taking with these craft,\u201d Small said in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou know, it took me some time in this job to get over the surprise of meeting someone who tells me they are the world\u2019s leading expert in &#8216;X&#8217; autonomous technology, and they\u2019ve been doing it for 20 years. And it\u2019s true: There is a lot of technology out there, we just need to package it together and demonstrate it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The issue is really, from a technical standpoint, whether it\u2019s possible to integrate exquisite communications suites, vertical launching systems, combat systems and missile systems into an unmanned ship, and then operate it from over the horizon or even just close by. It would be no mean feat, and the Navy\u2019s long delays fielding littoral combat ship mission modules and new technologies from the Ford-class aircraft carriers have hardly inspired confidence on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn view of uncertain LUSV concepts of operations, requirements, technical maturity \u2014 including many [first-of-a-kind capabilities] \u2014 the contrast between a proven aircraft carrier and its air wing and unproven unmanned surface vessels is stark,\u201d a source familiar with the thinking of congressional authorizers told Defense News in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The recent Defense appropriations bill that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/navy-league\/2019\/05\/06\/with-billions-planned-in-funding-the-us-navy-charts-its-unmanned-future\/\" target=\"_blank\">funded the two LUSVs<\/a> also forbade the Navy from integrating a vertical launching systems in the first boats but said it could revisit the issue in later years, which sprung from congressional concerns that the Navy was moving too fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>5. So what\u2019s next? <\/b>Small\u2019s office is going to keep testing prototypes and developing requirements in conjunction with the Surface Development Squadron. SURFDEVRON is the outfit stood up last year to help the surface force navigate the issues of integrating new technologies such as the DDG-1000 and the large and unmanned surface vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As for the Ghost Fleet Overlord program out of SCO, it\u2019s now in phase two, which will focus on \u201cthe integration of government-furnished command-and-control systems and payloads and involve more complex and challenging naval experimentation,\u201d according to the October release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As for the actual LUSV program, the Navy issued a request for information to industry to feel out what might be possible. In 2020, the service plans to issue several conceptual design contracts that will inform a request for proposal. Then, in 2021, the service is hoping to award a detailed design and construction for the first LUSVs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s everything you need to know about the Navy&#8217;s effort to field a large unmanned surface vessel, and what&#8217;s ahead in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":103,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"9":{"categories":["unmanned","home","daily-brief","newsletters"],"primary_category":"unmanned"}}},"categories":[160,29,162,16,36,103],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-55378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-digital-show-daily","category-naval","category-newsletters","category-surface-navy-association"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AWUVC4A4NFC5FIM5LICU5OO5UM","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/heres-5-things-you-should-know-about-the-us-navys-plans-for-big-autonomous-missile-boats\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 things you should know about the US Navy\u2019s plans for autonomous missile boats - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here&#039;s everything you need to know about the Navy&#039;s effort to field a large unmanned surface vessel, and what&#039;s ahead in 2020.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/heres-5-things-you-should-know-about-the-us-navys-plans-for-big-autonomous-missile-boats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 things you should know about the US Navy\u2019s plans for autonomous missile boats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#039;s everything you need to know about the Navy&#039;s effort to field a large unmanned surface vessel, and what&#039;s ahead in 2020.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/heres-5-things-you-should-know-about-the-us-navys-plans-for-big-autonomous-missile-boats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-13T22:53:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T00:06:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. 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