The uninhabited skeleton: The Pentagon is betting on robot ships
The U.S. Navy has selected seven companies to participate in the next phase of the program to create prototypes of medium-sized unmanned surface vessels. The list of contractors includes Saronic, HavocAI, Sea Machines, as well as the giant of the American military shipbuilding — Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII). This corporation is known for the construction of nuclear aircraft carriers, submarines and vessels of smaller tonnage. The creation of unmanned surface ships (BNCs) is one of the key areas of development of the naval forces of foreign countries today. What programs exist to create BNCs in the United States and whether their naval forces will be able to receive such combat units in the near future - in the Izvestia material.
In search of the "Ghost Fleet"
The introduction of unmanned surface ships into the Navy is designed to reduce personnel costs. In addition to saving money, the loss of such vessels will not entail critical reputational and material costs. They can accommodate a significant number of shock, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weapons. The swarm of vehicles can be controlled both from the shore and from special control ships. The creation of a BNK grouping led by such headquarters will allow the formation of forces with a powerful offensive potential.
Active work on the creation of BNCs began in the United States in the early 2020s. In 2021, when considering the shipbuilding program for the next 30 years, it was planned to build from 100 to 200 such ships. By 2025, the Navy expected to have a dozen prototypes and combat-ready units. Nevertheless, the Navy is currently experiencing serious problems with the creation of new technology. The design is delayed, changes are constantly being made, and today there are only a few prototypes.
The development of the program is also influenced by the regular change of political priorities in Washington. Additional uncertainty is caused by changes in the concepts of fleet construction. As a result, the original plans were repeatedly revised. So, in 2024, it was planned to create a "Ghost Fleet" of drones of two classes: multi-purpose vehicles with a displacement of less than 500 tons for reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting, and small ships the size of a corvette carrying long-range missiles. The purchase of the latter was scheduled for 2027 at a price of about $330 million per unit.
But already in 2025, the Navy announced a prototype competition as part of the creation of Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC). The project envisaged the use of commercial platforms adapted for container payloads (missiles or reconnaissance equipment). In March 2026, this initiative was replaced by the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) program.Now the US military expects to choose a ready-made platform from the proposals of seven companies, rather than create it from scratch.
Requirements for the new fleet
The following requirements apply to MUSV vessels: a range of at least 2,500 nautical miles at a speed of 25 knots; a load capacity of 25 tons on the cargo deck in rough seas up to 4 points; fully autonomous operation day and night in various weather conditions; and the ability to survive in rough seas up to 7 points. It is also necessary to limit all radio frequency emissions while maintaining autonomy.
Container launchers can be used as payloads, for example, the Mk.70, based on the Mk shipboard vertical launch system.41. This system is a standard 40-foot container with four cells for missiles of various types, such as Tomahawk or Standard anti-missiles. The development of mine control systems will also be an important task. The need for them worsened after the mining of the waters of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, after which the actual absence of modern minesweeping forces in the United States became apparent.
The US Navy plans to complete the tests of the ships already received by October 2026. After that, they will go to the series. New ships, both manned and uninhabited, are urgently needed by the US Navy. The Americans see that the fleet of the People's Liberation Army of China is being updated at a rapid pace: a fourth aircraft carrier, presumably with a nuclear power plant, is being built on the stocks. The 35th destroyer of the 052DM project has already been commissioned into the Chinese fleet, huge support vessels (about 65 thousand tons of displacement) are being built. Beijing is extensively developing new promising projects, rapidly adapting current trends. The United States needs new combat units and weapons right now.
The difficulties of American shipbuilding
In recent decades, the U.S. surface shipbuilding industry has been going through far from the best of times. The program for the creation of the promising DDG-1000 Zamvolt destroyer has increased dramatically in cost, and instead of 32 ships, only three have joined the Navy. They are armed with 80 launchers and two artillery launchers capable of firing at 148 km. However, it turned out that such an artillery shell is more expensive than a Tomahawk missile. These ships are currently undergoing modernization with the replacement of artillery installations with hypersonic missile systems.
The program of littoral combat ships Freedom and Independence, designed to serve in advanced areas, has reached a dead end due to problems with the modular system. As a result, it was closed, and a number of lead ships were sent for recycling. It was planned to build adapted Italian frigates of the FREMM type to replace them. However, the introduction of new requirements into the Constellation project led to a paradoxical situation — it turned out to be a ship the size of the destroyer Arleigh Burke, but with much fewer weapons. As a result, it was decided to complete the two already laid down frigates, and cancel the series. To replace them, new frigates will be built on the basis of a Coast Guard patrol ship of the Ligand type. They will receive a universal weapon system at the stern, including container weapon systems. The new frigates themselves will be used as control ships for unmanned vessels, the development of which is ongoing.
In the meantime, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers form the basis of the US surface forces. These are not bad combat units, but the project was created in the 1980s, and the lead ship joined the Navy in 1991. For lack of anything better, these ships are still being built, and it is possible that new ones will simply replace the oldest ones. In general, such fluctuations should show all countries the importance of introducing new technologies into military shipbuilding and the greater openness of this market to ready-made commercial solutions. It is also obvious that military shipbuilding programs should be developed decades in advance, be protected from political conjuncture and be ready to introduce new technologies that have not yet appeared.
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