Autonomous ships will allow for unprecedented levels of flexibility and decentralization, but come with a host of unknown risks and challenges. We have to invest in the future.” This push for autonomous ships comes amidst a broader push for the Navy’s surface fleet to rely on smaller, more distributed systems in the face of enemy threats, particularly anti-ship missiles. So, we’re making all those investments the research and development budget that we had is the largest in history.
It will add more lethality, survivability, capability, et cetera, to the United States Navy and indeed to the joint force. On September 17 th, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said “ Unmanned will enable us to grow the United States Navy well beyond 355 ships. In the past few years there has been an increasing focus on expanding the US Navy’s capabilities through the use of unmanned surface vessels. Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) concept renderings from shipbuilder Austal USA.
