Navy places orders for surface drones

[Brock]

Three Louisiana-based shipyards will build unmanned surface vessels for the U.S. Navy following recent at-sea testing, the service announced Tuesday. 

The three companies – Saronic, HII and Galliano Marine Service – will each build 10 medium unmanned surface vessels, or MUSVs, at about $40 million per hull, the Navy’s acting direct reporting portfolio manager for robotic and autonomous systems Chris Miller told reporters in a virtual roundtable. 

The Navy issued the awards using other transaction authorities but did not specify how much each company received. A service news release described the $40 million figure as an average cost per vessel. The funding comes from the reconciliation legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Congress passed last year.

“The phase one production awards were based on the optimal mix of autonomy performance, design, production schedule and cost,” Miller said during Tuesday’s call. “The production will begin immediately at shipyards in Loreauville, Houma, and Franklin, Louisiana, with deliveries starting as early as the fourth quarter of [Fiscal Year] 2027.”

[Brock]

I imagine they'll be used for a lot of experimentation, mounting different weapons and surveilance equipment.

[Sedalia Dave]

What they need to be funding an a super inexpensive way to counteract the plethora of surface and airborne drones our adversaries are using against us.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

13 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

What they need to be funding an a super inexpensive way to counteract the plethora of surface and airborne drones our adversaries are using against us.

Little Boy.  Fat Man.  

[Brock]

There was a recent war games between USN and surface drones. USN lost the game before they knew they'd been attacked.

[Texas Joker]

I find it coincidental that at the same time unmanned and drone warfare is proving its worth and we are building entire fleets, the people programming the LLLMs are warning us about them.

 

Are we creating the devices we get to fight against in the 1st AI war?

[Brock]

I think those 30 are for learningoffensive and defensive techniques. 100s would be a fleet, 30 are expendable.

[Pat Riot]

Yes, boys and girls, we are all going to die. 
It may be from AI, robots and drones or it may be from micro-organisms or it may be from old age. 
 

Think about how exciting it would be to face off against a robot. You with your 6 gun and the robot with a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range…

 

Nah, I will take my SFAR and RXMs over any 6 gun. 
 

🤣🤣🤣

[Brock]

What could the navy do with a surface drone? gun platform for sure. remote control sonobuoy. kamikaze RC torpedo, search and rescue. swarms can overwhelm defenses. lie in wait just collecting data.