See the hundreds of sea drones the US Navy is experimenting with overseas

For more than three years, the Navy has been studying the integration of autonomous vessels in its fleet through a handful of task forces, notably Task Force 59, the first naval unmanned and artificial intelligence task force.

TF 59 has “tested, upgraded, evolved, and operated with more than 23 different unmanned systems,” according to the Navy, integrating them into maritime operations in the Middle East.

As the Navy continues to test sea drones’ operability with its crewed fleet, the US has already been deploying drone boats to monitor adversaries. In October 2023, a dozen different unmanned and manned vessels participated in an operation that tracked Iranian warships and gunboats in and around the Strait of Hormuz, US Naval Forces Central Command said at the time.

The Navy used a fast-interceptor USV called the Arabian Fox MAST-13 to capture photographs of the Iranian boats, drones, and helicopters that were harassing commercial vessels and American military vessels transiting in Middle Eastern waters.

Saildrone, a California-based ocean drone manufacturer that builds autonomous vehicles by the same name, has three drone variants under contract with the US Navy.

With a length of 65 feet and a weight of over 33,000 pounds, the Saildrone Surveyor, which was built specifically for the Navy, is the world’s largest autonomous ocean-mapping vehicle class in operation. The diesel-powered drone employs an advanced radar and camera system, echo sounders, and sensors to map and monitor its environment, remotely transmitting the data with advanced machine learning anywhere in the world.

Late last year, the US Navy also deployed 10 Saildrone Voyagers as part of its efforts to build a hybrid fleet. Powered by solar and wind energy, the Voyager is designed to be an environmentally friendly, midsize autonomous platform, clocking in at about half the size of the Surveyor. It is equipped with a suite of sensors and instruments, like smart cameras, digital radar, and subsurface passive acoustics.

With a hull length of 23 feet, the Saildrone Explorer is the smallest USV built by the company but can still carry an array of advanced sensors and radars to collect high-quality data at sea.

Naval drones are known for their effectiveness in surveillance, but Navy officials are also attempting to boost their lethal capabilities.

In an exercise last November, the Navy said it fired live weapons from unmanned surface vessels in international waters near the Arabian Peninsula — the first time lethal munitions were launched from American drone boats in the Middle East.

The Navy equipped a T38 Devil Ray USV, a speedboat-like drone developed by Florida-based manufacturer Maritime Tactical Systems, with a loitering precision-guided lethal system known as a Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile (LMAM). The 38-foot unmanned boat has a payload capacity of 4,000 pounds and travels at speeds of 80 to 115 mph, making it one of the world’s fastest-known attack boats.

With a human operator ashore controlling the USV, the T38 targeted and engaged with target boats simulating hostile forces at sea and “successfully scored direct hits each time,” NAVCENT said in a statement.

Sea drones could be key in the US efforts to deter a Chinese invasion of self-ruled Taiwan, which China views as a breakaway province that should be under Beijing’s control.

As the largest drone producer in the world, China is likely to employ autonomous warfare amid heightened tensions with Taiwan. But experts speculate a potential conflict in the South China Sea could differ from what is happening in the Red and Black Sea.

In 2022, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy launched the world’s first high-tech unmanned carrier. The Zhu Hai Yun is capable of deploying dozens of aerial and maritime drones that can scout for and target US warships and submarines aiding Taiwan.

The PLA Navy could also deploy decoys throughout the South China Sea to “make it difficult for American missiles and submarines to distinguish between high-value ships and worthless uncrewed commercial vessels,” according to a report from the Center for a New American Security, a DC-based wargaming think tank.

Nonetheless, the top US admiral in the Pacific said the US Navy is prepared to deploy an unmanned fleet of its own if China invades Taiwan.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told The Washington Post in June that he wants to “turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape” to fight Chinese invading forces.

“I can make their lives utterly miserable for a month, which buys me the time for the rest of everything,” Paparo said.

The Pentagon’s Replicator program aims to match China’s naval power as the PLA’s autonomous fleet continues to grow. However, the ambitious US initiative has its own obstacles.

Plagued by a defense budget that is already stretched thin, the US Navy budgeted $172 million to acquire small- and medium-sized sea drones in 2024 and just over $100 million in 2025 — not to mention the research, development, testing, evaluation, and crew training involved in addition to procurement, Reuters reported.

The Pentagon also has to rely on American or non-Chinese drone manufacturers to build its autonomous fleet, which could take longer given China’s dominance in the commercial drone market.

“It can be fast, cheap, or good,” Sam Gray, a retired Navy officer who now serves as executive director of the Silicon Valley Defense Group, told Defense News. “Pick two.”