Across the globe in the Red Sea, Arabian Gulf, Caribbean, Baltic, Mediterranean, and western Pacific, small unmanned surface vessels (sUSVs) are tracking maritime traffic, logging anomalous behavior, and feeding real-time data to U.S. and partner forces—with no sailors on board. No one is steering them. No crew is at risk. A year ago, those platforms were contractor-owned and contractor-operated demonstrations or experiments, exploring potential future capability. Today, they are increasingly being integrated into the fleet as government-owned and operated platforms—on track to meet some of the surface force’s most challenging missions.

There is no shortage of thoughtful perspectives on how robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) should be integrated into the surface force—several appeared in the September 2025 Proceedings, and the conversation continues across industry, military forums, and war colleges. This article aims to provide an authoritative account from inside the proverbial life-lines at Surface Development Group One (CSDG-1)—the organization the Navy has tasked to integrate RAS into the surface force.

One of CSDG-1’s most important overarching efforts over recent months has been to generate and roll out the Vision for the Manned-Unmanned Surface Force, in close coordination with fleet and Navy staff stakeholders. With the release of the Chief of Naval Operations Hedging Strategy and force design, the vision, fleet demand, technological maturation, and budget priorities are now aligned to design, procure, and proliferate RAS throughout the surface force, creating the opportunity for continued tactical development and operational employment.   

Unmanned Systems In The Fleet Today

Not all unmanned systems are created equal. The drones that have reshaped the battlefield in Ukraine are largely remotely operated with human controllers steering them in real time. RAS are fundamentally different. They can operate for extended periods without human intervention, using onboard sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning to assess their environment and make decisions. Rather than requiring a human in the loop to authorize each action, RAS are designed to operate with a human on the loop; meaning operators monitor the system and can retask or override it, but the platform does not wait for a human decision to act. That distinction matters enormously for how these systems are deployed, what they can accomplish, and what risks they introduce.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2026/may/manned-unmanned-surface-force-here?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MayPW7-26&utm_id=PW5-7-26&utm_source=U.S.+Naval+Institute&utm_campaign=6f8509d688-Proceedings_This_Week_2026_23_April_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adee2c2162-6f8509d688-234912154&mc_cid=6f8509d688&mc_eid=770462a2eb