US Navy foresees an uncrewed future for its surface and underwater fleet
The first Orca Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle was delivered to the branch in December 2023. (Photo: Boeing)
The service has been conducting various procurement and development efforts to integrate unmanned surface and underwater vehicles into its inventory.
The US Navy has been increasing efforts to integrate autonomous capabilities into its surface and underwater fleet. In order to better project power worldwide, the service has been acquiring, developing and maturing platforms, in addition to improving its doctrine to deploy a mix of manned and uncrewed systems.
Efforts in the domain have also comprised investing in advanced autonomy, communications and sensors; highly reliable hull, mechanical and electrical systems; common control systems; payload prototyping; and networks and enabling solutions to allow for human-machine operations.
“It involves how can we extend the lethality and the reach of our manned platforms by using
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