New York: During a US naval test off the coast of California last month, which was designed to show Pentagon’s top autonomous drone boat, a vessel stopped unexpectedly.
As officials shrinked to fix a software error, another drone vessel smashed into the idle boat’s starboard side, vaulted over the deck and crashed back into the water – an incident trapped in videos obtained by Reuters.
The previously unreported episode involving two vessels built by US Defense Tech rivals Saronic and Blacksea Technologies is one of a series of recent setbacks in the Pentagon’s push to build a fleet of autonomous vessels, according to a dozen people familiar with the program.
Weeks earlier, under a separate navy blue testing, the captain of a support boat was thrown into the water after another autonomous blacksea vessel, it suddenly accelerated, the support boat, according to four people who were familiar with the case. The captain was saved and rejected medical attention. The incident was first reported by DEFENSE SCOOP.
Both events came from a combination of software errors and human errors, including collapse in communication between onboarding systems and external autonomous software, according to a person with direct knowledge of the case requesting anonymity to share sensitive information.
Navy, Saronic and Blacksea refused to comment on the events.
The videos showing the drone accident were verified by two Reuters sources, the landscape that matches terrain images, the Garc-096 name ID and structure of boat matching file images of Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (Garc).
US military leaders who see the great effect of maritime drones in the Ukraine war have repeatedly said they need autonomous swarms of air and maritime drones to prevent potential progress from China over the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan himself has begun to acquire his maritime drones.
The drones developed in Ukraine, often similar to speedboats without seats and are able to carry weapons, explosives and monitoring equipment, are primarily remote controlled and cost close to $ 250,000-which make them optimal for Kamikaze missions that effectively neutralized Russia’s black Sea Fleet.
The United States, in the meantime, aims to build an autonomous naval fleet that can move in swarms and without human command – a more ambitious task at a higher price point; As much as a few million dollars per Speed-boat.
The recent test errors highlight the challenges that the marine’s efforts face to implement the beginning technologies, said Bryan Clark, an autonomous warfare expert at the Hudson Institute. It will have to customize its “tactics as it better understands what the systems can do and what they can’t do.”
But the marine’s problems go beyond making the boats work: its autonomous maritime drone acquisition unit has also been shaken by the firing of its top admiral, and a top Pentagon expressed concern for the program in an honest meeting with Navy Brass last month, Reuters found.
Since the latest incident, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which had acquired technology for the tests, has indefinitely paused a contract appreciated close to $ 20 million with L3harris, one of the companies that provided autonomous software used to control some of the ships, according to two people who are familiar with the case.
The Pentagon did not answer questions about the cause of the accidents or the L3harris contract that was paused, which has not been previously reported.
A Pentagon spokesman said it performed drone test as part of a “competitive and iterative approach, between operators and industry.”
L3harris refused to comment on the contract and led questions to DIU. DIU refused to comment.
“L3harris is behind the security, integrity and capacity of our autonomy command-and-control product,” said Toby Magsig, who oversees L3harris’ autonomous software products.
Rise of Sea Drones
To speed up its drone effort, the Pentagon launched in the 2023 replica program of $ 1 billion, through which branches such as the US Navy and DIU planned to acquire thousands of air and maritime drones along with the software to control them. The first systems from this program will be advertised this month.
Navy has committed at least $ 160 million to Blacksea, producing dozens of its global autonomous reconnaissance vessels a month, according to purchasing registers.
Saronic, who was recently valued at $ 4 billion in a financing round supported by Andreessen Horowitz and 8VC, makes the competitive Havdrone Corsair, but has not yet announced a major contract. Federal purchasing registers show that the company has generated at least $ 20 million from prototype agreements.
“These systems will play a critical role in the future of Naval Warfare by expanding Fleet Reach, improving the attention of the situation and increasing the match efficiency,” said Jim Kilby’s naval operations head during a visit to BlackSea’s facility in June.
Navy uneasiness
Since returning to the office, President Donald Trump has made Fielding Swarms of Drones a top military priority. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” last month adopted nearly $ 5 billion for maritime autonomous systems.
But so far, the Navy’s approach has faced skepticism during the new administration.
In April, Navy’s Key Drone Boat Procurement Unit – known as program Executive Office proclaimed unmanned and small warrants (PEO USC) – a successful demonstration of the software used to control Blacksea’s vessels in a LinkedIn post, hailing it as “a big step forward to promote #maritime Autonomy.”
In response, Colin Carroll, then head of staff to Deputy Secretary Secretary Steven Feinberg, suggested that the program duplicated other efforts in the Pentagon. “I have a feeling that there are changes in the future of this program,” he replied to the LinkedIn post. Carroll, no longer with the Pentagon, refused to comment further.
PEO USC was recently placed during review, according to four people who were aware of the case due to a series of setbacks and could be restructured or closed.
This comes two months after the fleet said it had fired the unit’s leader, Bagadmiral Kevin Smith, due to a loss of confidence in his management after Naval Inspector General supported a complaint against him. Reuters was unable to contact Smith.
During a meeting last month, the Feinberg Navy officials grilled about their autonomous ship functions, including those who became the field of PEO USC, according to three people informed about the meeting. Feinberg was not impressed by some of the capabilities acquired by the Navy and questioned whether they were cost -effective, the people said.
A Pentagon spokesman said, “We won’t comment on private internal meetings” and directed questions about PEO USC to the Navy.
Navy refused to comment on the meeting or the acquisition unit that was reviewed. Spokesman Timothy Hawkins said PEO USC stands by his mission, including its role as acquisition authority for the maintenance and modernization of unmanned maritime systems.
The turmoil comes as shipbuilders and software providers are angling to ensure even greater autonomous maritime projects, such as unmanned submarines and cargo -bearing ships.
Last week, PEO USC began to accept proposals for the modular attack surface vessel to acquire medium and large vessels capable of carrying containers, monitoring equipment and performing strikes.
TX Hammes, an autonomous weapon expert and Atlantic Council fellow, said the navy is in unprotected waters and tries to undergo decades of high -speed tradition.
“You have a system that is used to building big things, making years to make a decision, and now suddenly you ask them to move quickly,” he said.
