The US Navy is building a drone fleet to take on China
A flagship California demo saw one drone boat stall and another vault onto its deck before crashing back into the water, videos show.
The U.S. Navy’s drive to field swarms of autonomous surface vessels to deter China hit fresh trouble after back‑to‑back test mishaps off California and growing internal scrutiny of its procurement office, prompting a Pentagon unit to pause a key autonomy software deal even as officials insist the effort remains “competitive and iterative” with industry.
What went wrong at sea
During a high‑profile demo designed to showcase top unmanned boats, one vessel unexpectedly stalled. As personnel worked on a software fix, a second craft smashed into the idled boat’s starboard side, vaulted over the deck, and splashed back—an incident captured on video obtained by Reuters.
Weeks earlier, in another Navy test, a support boat under tow by an autonomous BlackSea vessel capsized after a sudden acceleration, tossing its captain into the water; he was rescued and declined medical care. The episode was first reported by DefenseScoop.
A person with direct knowledge said both mishaps involved a mix of software failures and human error, including communications breakdowns between onboard systems and external autonomy software. The Navy and builders Saronic and BlackSea declined comment.
Program shockwaves and a contract pause
After the latest incident, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit indefinitely paused a contract worth close to $20 million with L3Harris, whose autonomy software controls some test vessels, according to people familiar. The Pentagon declined to address causes of the accidents or the pause.
A Pentagon spokesperson said the Navy is testing drones as part of a “competitive and iterative approach between operators and industry.” L3Harris added, “L3Harris stands behind the safety, integrity, and capability of our autonomy command‑and‑control product.”
Why the Navy is pushing unmanned swarms
U.S. commanders, citing Ukraine’s battlefield use of low‑cost sea drones, have argued that autonomous swarms—at sea and in the air—will be crucial to blunt a potential Chinese move across the Taiwan Strait; Taiwan is procuring its own maritime drones.
Ukraine‑style explosive “speedboats” are mainly remote‑controlled and cost about $250,000 each—effective for kamikaze missions that repeatedly hit Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. The U.S. aims higher: swarming boats that can operate without human command, at price tags of a few million dollars per craft.
To scale up, the Pentagon launched the $1 billion Replicator initiative in 2023 to buy thousands of drones and control software, with first systems due to be announced this month.
Money, makers—and a learning curve
Procurement filings show the Navy has committed at least $160 million to BlackSea, which is producing dozens of Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft boats monthly. Rival Saronic, recently valued at $4 billion with backing from Andreessen Horowitz and 8VC, has logged at least $20 million in prototype agreements.
Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute said the failures underscore a steep learning curve: the Navy must refine “tactics as it better understands what the systems can do and what they can’t do.”
Turbulence in the acquisition ranks
Beyond technical hurdles, the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants was put under review after a string of setbacks, and its leader, Rear Admiral Kevin Smith, was fired two months ago following a substantiated inspector‑general complaint, Reuters found.
A senior Pentagon official last month pressed Navy leaders on whether the capabilities being acquired were cost‑effective, according to people briefed on the meeting. The Navy declined to comment on the meeting or the review; a spokesperson said the office stands by its mission to acquire and maintain unmanned maritime systems.