US Navy to Deploy Experimental Drone Boats Under Fleet Control This Year, Official Says
The US Navy’s pioneering Sea Hunter and Seahawk drone boats are set to make a major leap from testbeds to operational fleet assets this year. Captain Garrett Miller, commodore of Surface Development Group One, announced the shift at a major conference, revealing plans for one drone to deploy with a carrier strike group in 2026 and projecting that nearly half of all naval surface vessels could be unmanned by 2045.
For years, they’ve been the ghost ships of the future—slender, autonomous vessels slicing through the water without a single sailor on deck. Now, that future is docking with the present fleet. At the Surface Navy Association conference in Washington this week, Navy leaders declared that two key experimental drone boats are ready to graduate from prototypes to working warships. According to Capt. Garrett Miller, the Sea Hunter and Seahawk—both built by defense contractor Leidos—will soon be under direct fleet command. “They will no longer be experimental vessels,” Miller stated. “They will actually be under fleet control, assigned to surface forces to be able to actually go out and do great things.”
This isn’t just a paperwork change; it’s the start of a fundamental shift in how the Navy operates. The plan is aggressive. Miller said one of the Medium Displacement Uncrewed Surface Vessels (MDUSVs) will deploy with a carrier strike group as early as 2026—a landmark integration of autonomous platforms into the Navy’s most potent traditional battle formations. To manage this new force, the service will stand up three “early command” USV divisions next week, with the goal of establishing “operationalized USV squadrons in every fleet.” The scaling is rapid: from two vessels now, to 11 MDUSVs by 2027, and over 30 by 2030.
What can these drone boats actually do? Initially developed under DARPA as an unmanned sub-tracker, the Sea Hunter paved the way for the more advanced Seahawk. Navy officials say the uncrewed ships can bolster missions ranging from mine-countermeasures and intelligence-gathering to even kinetic strikes. Their value lies in taking on dull, dirty, or dangerous tasks, freeing up manned ships and crews for more complex decisions. Conrad Chun, Leidos Defense communications vice president, told Breaking Defense that the company’s Leidos Autonomous Vessel Architecture (LAVA) provides the proven, mission-ready software backbone for these vessels after years of testing.
The move to operational status answers a critical question: what comes after the experiment? The Navy has spent years testing hardware; now the harder work begins—crafting the specific tactics, doctrines, and concepts of operation for how these drones will fight alongside crewed ships. Officials are careful to stress that drones are force multipliers, not replacements. “The future is now,” declared Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander, special assistant to the commander for naval surface forces at the US Pacific Fleet, during a separate panel. He presented a staggering vision of the coming “Golden Fleet,” stating, “by 2045 we expect about 45 percent of the surface force to be unmanned systems.”
The announcement marks a pivotal inflection point. The Sea Hunter and Seahawk are transitioning from compelling tech demos to fleet assets that must prove their reliability and tactical worth in real-world scenarios. Their deployment is the first major step toward a hybrid fleet—one where the silent, persistent presence of drone boats becomes a standard feature of American naval power, fundamentally altering the calculus for potential adversaries on the world’s oceans.