New York: During a United States naval test on the Coast of California last month, which was designed to show the best autonomous drone ships of the Pentagon, an unexpectedly stagnant container.
While the officials rushed to fix a software failure, another drone container crashed into the stirrup side of the idle boat, jumped on the deck and crashed into the water, an incident captured in videos obtained by Reuters.
The previously not informed episode, which involved two ships built by the American defense technology Saronic and Blacksea Technologies, is one of a series of recent setbacks in the impulse of the Pentagon to build a fleet of autonomous boats, according to a dozen people familiar with the program.
Weeks before, during a separate Navy test, the captain of a support boat was thrown into the water after another autonomous blacksea ship that was suddenly towing accelerated, turning the support boat, according to four people familiar with the matter. The captain was rescued and rejected medical attention. The incident was first reported by Defense Scoop.
Both incidents derived from a combination of software failures and human error, including failures in communication between on -board systems and external autonomous software, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, which requested anonymity to share confidential information.
The Navy, Sarónica and Blacksea declined to comment on the incidents.
The videos that show the drone clash were verified by two reuters sources, the terrain images that coincide with the landscape, the ID of name GARC-096 and the structure of the archive images of the ship game of the crafts of the Global Autonomous Recognition (GARC).
American military leaders, seeing the huge impact of maritime drones on the Ukraine War, have repeatedly said they need autonomous swarms of aerial and maritime drones to hinder a possible advance of China through the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan himself has begun to acquire his maritime drones.
The drones that are developed in Ukraine, which often look like fast boats without seats, and are capable of transporting weapons, explosives and surveillance equipment, are mainly controlled at a distance and cost about $ 250,000, which makes them optimal for Kamikaze missions that have effectively neutralized the Black Sea fleet of Russia.
Meanwhile, the United States aims to build an autonomous naval fleet that can move in swarms and without a human command, a more ambitious task at a higher price; Up to a few million dollars per fast boat.
The recent tests in the tests highlight the challenges facing the effort of the Navy to display nascent technologies, Bryan Clark said, an expert in autonomous war at the Hudson Institute. You will need to adapt your “tactics as you better understand what the systems can do and what they cannot do.”
But the problems of the Navy go beyond making the ships work: their autonomous maritime drone acquisition unit has also been shaken by the dismissal of its main admiral, and a senior Pentagon officer expressed concerns about the program in a sincere meeting with the navy brass last month, Reuters found.
Since the most recent incident, the Pentagon Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which had acquired technology for the tests, has indefinitely arrested a contract valued by about $ 20 million with L3Harris, one of the companies that provide autonomous software used to control some of the ships, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Pentagon did not answer the questions about the cause of the accidents or the L3Harris contract that was stopped, which has not been previously informed.
A Pentagon spokesman said he performed drone tests as part of a “competitive and iterative approach, between operators and industry.”
L3harris declined to comment on the contract and directed questions to the IUD. The IUD declined to comment.
“L3harris supports the safety, integrity and capacity of our autonomy control and control product,” said Toby Magsig, who supervises the autonomous software products of L3Harris.
Rise of the sea drones
To accelerate its effort of drones, the Pentagon in 2023 launched the replicator program of $ 1 billion, through which branches such as the US Navy. And the IUD planned to acquire thousands of air and sea drones, together with the software to control them. The first systems of this program will be announced this month.
The Navy has committed at least $ 160 million to Blacksea, which produces dozens of its global autonomous recognition crafts per month, according to acquisition records.
Saronic, which was recently valued at $ 4 billion in a round of funds backed by Andreessen Horowitz and 8VC, makes the competitive Drone Corsair, but has not yet announced an important contract. Federal acquisition records show that the company has generated at least $ 20 million from prototype agreements.
“These systems will play a fundamental role in the future of the Naval War by extending the scope of the fleet, improving situational consciousness and increasing the effectiveness of combat,” said Naval Operations Chief Jim Kilby during a visit to Blacksea facilities in June.
Marine confusion
Since he returned to the office, President Donald Trump has turned drone drones as a superior military priority. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” approved last month included almost $ 5 billion for maritime autonomous systems.
But, until now, the Navy approach has faced skepticism under the new administration.
In April, the Navy drones Barabs Acquisition Unit, known as the Executive Office of the program, not manned and small combatants (PEO USC), promoted a successful demonstration of the software used to control the Blacksea ships in a publication on LinkedIn, which takes it as “a big step forward in the autonomy of progress #Maritime.”
In response, Colin Carroll, then head of the staff of the Secretary of Defense Steven Feinberg, suggested that the program was doubling other efforts within the Pentagon. “I have the feeling that there are changes in the future of this program,” he replied to LinkedIn’s publication. Carroll, who is no longer with the pentagon, declined to comment.
The PEO USC was recently reviewed, according to four people familiar with the matter, due to a series of setbacks, and could be restructured or closed.
This occurs two months after the Navy said he had dismissed the unit leader, Admiral Kevin Smith, due to a loss of confidence in his leadership after the Naval Inspector General corroborated a complaint against him. Reuters could not contact Smith.
During a meeting last month, Feinberg roasted Marina’s officials about their autonomous boat capabilities, including those presented by the USC Peo, 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 profitable, people said.
A Pentagon spokesman said: “We are not going to comment on private internal meetings” and directed questions about Peo USC to the Navy.
The Navy declined to comment on the meeting or the acquisition unit that is being reviewed. Spokesman Timothy Hawkins said that the PEO USC supports its mission, including its role of acquisition authority for the maintenance and modernization of unmanned maritime systems.
Agitation occurs when naval builders and software suppliers are inclined to ensure even larger autonomous maritime projects, such as non -manned submarines and cargo loads.
Last week, PEO USC began accepting proposals for the modular attack surface ship to acquire medium and large vessels capable of transporting containers, surveillance equipment and driving strikes.
Tx Hammes, an autonomous weapons expert and a member of the Atlantic Council, said the Navy is in unknown waters, trying to review decades of tradition at high speed.
“You have a system that is used to build great things, making years to make a decision, and now you are suddenly asking them to move fast,” he said.
