Introduction

The United States is often looked upon as a nation whose most significant export is technology. The comparatively free market economy, in conjunction with the culture, has fostered extraordinary innovation. The US is generally a producer of high-value concepts and an outsourcer of low-value production. To materially objectify this, one needs to look no further than the smartphone in your pocket—the unicorn invention of the 21st century, born from the minds in Silicon Valley and manufactured abroad. Despite the nation’s wealth in natural marine infrastructure, this trend is observably reversed for its own maritime industry.

Today the cutting edge of seafaring technology is inarguably Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). Whether these systems function to reduce a crew’s workload, or entirely displace a redundancy of manned vessels, autonomy has the potential to propel the commercial industry into a new era of value. As such, the world’s leading maritime nations have embarked upon a series of initiatives to proactively capitalize on the opportunity as it begins. From the EU to Russia, South Korea and Japan, governments and industry are investing considerable sums to capture the early opportunity and fortify their shipping economy. Oddly, or perhaps characteristically, the United States appears to have limited national interest in the commercial advantages of MASS. With headline news rife with articles on self-driving automobiles, there is a very different story developing behind the doors of the Pentagon.

Some of the United States’ most outstanding technological contributions have sprung from the relationship of the military-industrial complex. You are likely reading this report via the internet, and while we have capitalism to thank for its modern usability, it was the US Department of Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that led the development of the first major Internet Protocol Suites. Likewise, the software that enables smart devices like Apple’s Siri was once sold as declassified versions of US defence technologies. In respect to the transportation sectors,  President Reagan’s 1983 directive to allow the public use of GPS is yet another example of how defence development has accelerated commercial progress. If the past can serve as a gauge of future trends, it’s safe to bet that today’s secretive defence projects may become the foundation of tomorrow’s enabling technologies.

As perceived foreign adversaries such as China and Russia advance their naval prowess, it is a US national imperative to maintain superiority. When it comes to MASS research and development, the US Department of Defense is full speed ahead. In October of 2020, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper publicly disclosed the Executive’s Navy force-level goals: Battle Force 2045. The military plans to divest the bulk of its largest ships favouring a distributed fleet architecture, meaning the future Navy will consist of smaller tonnage, highly advanced watercraft. By 2045, the fleet will nearly double in number to over 500 vessels; 28-48% of which will be “unmanned and optionally manned surface and sub-surface vessels of all types.” While he did not give specifics, press reports on the development indicate that 65-100 of these consists of large and medium autonomous surface ships, and approximately 60 “extra large” unmanned underwater vehicles.

The initiative builds from the success of prior defence projects which have already produced existing in-service prototypes. In their FY2021 budget submission to Congress, the Navy requested $3.9B in funding for R&D, constructing an average of three to four large unmanned vessels per annum by 2025. Although lawmakers of the Armed Services Committee statements recognized that large unmanned vessels will undoubtedly play an essential future role, they expressed several valid concerns regarding the untried reliability and the ill-defined legalities of such craft. Citing excess procurement ahead of satisfactory testing, Congress limited funding under the pretence that the Navy must conduct thorough testing of the technology:

“The Committee notes that the Navy will take possession of two prototype LUSVs Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles from the Strategic Capabilities Office at the end of the fiscal year 2021 and that in the fiscal year 2020, Congress appropriated funding for… additional USVs to the Navy that are also scheduled to deliver to the Navy… The Committee believes that the Navy has sufficient prototypes on-hand to define LUSV and MUSV Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicles missions, program requirements, and concepts of operations in alignment with key stakeholders.”

Indeed, the US Navy has in its possession multiple “beyond state-of-the-art” large-scale unmanned vessels. With more currently under construction, the United States Navy is at the forefront of MASS development. The military-industrial complex’s major companies are at their best game, with players such as Lockheed Martin, Leidos, and L3Harris. While speculation as to whether these new technologies will find application in the commercial sector is beyond this report’s scope, the following aims to illuminate what these autonomous vessels are and who is behind their development.  

Understanding automation in the US Navy

To a varying extent, the United States Navy has been experimenting with remotely operated marine equipment since as early as WWII. With modern innovations in sensor and navigation technology, these systems’ operability offers a much broader tactical military advantage. Prior to recent developments, autonomous craft functioned mostly as accessories to be operated from, and in support of conventional manned ships.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense Unmanned Systems Roadmap 2007-2032 has defined the best suited application of unmanned vehicles as the three “D”s; dull, dirty or dangerous. The human element in any operations, military or otherwise, is subject to inherent error and risk. The term “dull” is a descriptor of tasks subject to attention span shortcomings, crew endurance and complacency. Autonomous systems and vehicles could be utilized to allow sufficient rest for the crew or to function as an unmanned platform to maximize resources. “Dirty” would be a mission which might otherwise expose seafarers to dangers such as radiation, biological or chemically hazardous conditions. In this situation, unmanned vehicles would increase the probability of success while minimizing human exposure. The more obvious of these terms is dangerous. Although most military operations contain an element of physical risk, the definition provided is centred around explosive ordnance disposal, but it is not restrictive. With such broad official application, it’s easy to understand why the military is seeking widespread adoption of USV and their enabling technologies.

The first unmanned surface vessel to be given an official naval hull number was delivered in 2008. Despite this classification, these crafts are no larger than a standard rib boat and can only operate independently for one or two days. Known as the Common Unmanned Surface Vessel (CUSV), these are designed for counter-mine and anti-submarine warfare. Because the CUSV is designed to operate as an accessory to be launched from manned ships, they fall short of this report’s scope but are provided for context.

The US Navy is planning for most of the tonnage in its USV fleet to fall within two categories: Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicles (MUSV), and Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles (LUSV). Although dubbed as unmanned, the term “lightly manned” is a better descriptor of the larger class. With functional prototypes in operation, these vessels are designed to be low-cost, high-endurance, and reconfigurable for various missions. The MUSV classification will generally be custom built, but interestingly the LUSV will be based on the design of commercial ships. The existing LUSV prototypes are in fact Offshore Supply Vessels purchased from the oil & gas industry, retrofitted with advanced autonomy systems.

ACTUV: The Sea Hunter

The first iteration of the US Navy’s large-scale USV is in current operation and is the most technologically advanced autonomous ship in the world to date. Although not built under the classification of MUSV, the highly specialized Sea Hunter represents the first medium displacement USV under the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The underpinning research and technology developed for the vessel will serve as the foundation for building the MUSV fleet.

The Sea Hunter was the result of what began as an open-ended program in 2009. With a modest $1.4M in hand, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) embarked upon a nine year, $159.272M project. Initially, the program set out evaluating how to increase mission capacity to support high demand naval missions. DARPA is often referred to as the “mad science” department of the Pentagon, so in full character, they set out with the context of a radical unmanned surface platform.  By 2010, the program was defined and formally named the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), with aims to achieve three primary goals:

1. Design, build and demonstrate an experimental vessel based on clean sheet design approaches founded on the assumption that no person steps aboard at any point in its operating cycle, enabling beyond state-of-the-art platform performance characteristics. 2. Demonstrate the technical viability of an independently deploying unmanned naval vessel under sparse remote supervisory control to enable a new class of maritime system. 3. Demonstrate a game-changing ASW operational capability and facilitate rapid transition of that capability to the Navy in response to critical operational demand.

In late 2010 the private sector became engaged for the six months of Phase I. With a 50 year history of supporting the Navy, the prime contract was awarded to the Fortune 500 company SAIC for $2M. Later the company would split and rename itself as Leidos, but continued on in its respective role. In the early days of the project, Leidos collaborated with DARPA proving their value by leveraging their expertise in marine hydrodynamics, sensor technology and advanced autonomy. The company helped to oversee concept exploration, technology surveys and risk assessments. Leidos analyzed unmanned naval concepts and operational utility, identified core technologies, and developed autonomous systems’ design concepts.

With the initial concept design complete, solicitations went up for the remaining phases of the project. Having proven their worth, Leidos again was awarded as the primary contractor. The single award, cost-plus fixed-fee contract set the duration of phase II and III for three years. During which time, Leidos would produce the final design and production plan for the prototype and complete construction, respectively. All told, the contract was for $58M for the completed ACTUV. Final testing would be formally performed by the government in phase IV, with an extended $1M, eighteen month contract for Leidos’s participation.

One of the more critical aspects of the project was ensuring the full capabilities of the autonomous systems. DARPA and Leidos fitted the ACTUVs associated hardware and technology aboard multiple surrogate boats in a rigorous series of tests. Over a period of two years, the navigational algorithms went through trial after trial. Applying the COLREGS (rules of the road) these vessels successfully demonstrated operability while navigating unscripted traffic situations. Complex areas such as narrow channels and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterways served as the testing grounds. Perhaps most impressive was a trial in which a surrogate vessel had nothing more than the ACTUV systems and standard electronic charts. With no preloaded waypoints, the autonomously enabled boat navigated around buoys, traffic and shallows to arrive safely at its destination over a 35 nautical mile voyage.

At this point, the ACTUV design was complete and under construction. As with any significant R&D defence project, it was a great collaborative effort. Providing additional input and experience, other organizations played their part in making history. Oregon Iron Works (which later merged with Vigor) and Christensen Shipyards contributed aspects of naval architecture, propulsion systems and construction. The unique functionality of the ACTUV required careful engineering of marine systems for redundancy. The specialists at Carnegie Mellon University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab came in for their expertise in the autonomous control architecture. Escaping much of the limelight was L3Harris Technologies, who served Leidos as a subtractor. Interestingly, L3Harris would later go on to beat Leidos to a lucrative contract for construction of the first MUSV.

Before its launch, DARPA formally transferred the ACTUV to the Office of Naval Research (ONR), who would continue to work with the defence agency in further tests. In 2016 the vessel was officially christened to the public. In Oregon’s waters by Vigor Shipyards where she was constructed, the Sea Hunter entered the history books. From this point on, the ACTUV program would come to a formal end, but the Sea Hunter would serve as an example of the future Navy. The beyond state-of-the-art design made her more advanced than any previous MASS.

Born from the Anti-Submarine Warfare program, the Sea Hunter is not merely a self-driving boat. The degree of autonomy is perhaps at the highest of the designations. Allowing for operator-configurable levels of MASS, she only requires sparse remote supervision, command and control. Advanced sensors and machine intelligence allow for identifying and tracking the quietest of diesel-electric submarines. The minimum range provides for a 6200km voyage into the global theatre, with speed, manoeuvrability, and endurance advantage over target submarines. The ACTUV program’s success would ultimately springboard the development of other large-scale USV, one of which Leidos is building today: the Sea Hunter II. In collaboration with United States Marine Incorporated, this second USV was expected to launch in late FY 2020, but updates as to its completion are as yet unknown.

MUSV: Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle

The MUSV class of autonomous ships are defined as being 45 to 190 feet (12.2 – 57.9m) in length, and a displacement in the realm of 500 tons. While a portion of them will no doubt be specialized, in general, they are to be reconfigurable, allowing for a versatile range of applications. As prototypes are launched and tested, the Navy will initially fit the MUSV with reconnaissance and electronic warfare payloads. Long term fleet structure plans indicate a possibility that over one hundred MUSV could be in operation by 2045. While the Sea Hunter loosely fits the definition, the MUSV will be built as a multi-purpose autonomous platform. As such, their system will be akin to existing commercially available MASS technologies.

In 2019 under a rapid prototyping effort, the Navy set forth its program to develop the first MUSV. With funding approved, the project went up to bid the following year. It’s known that six companies had applied, while the Navy disclosed only the winning applicant, it’s reasonable to assume that one of them was Leidos. However, it was L3Harris Technologies which received the prime contract. Competition aside, it was a wise move on the part of the Navy to nurture diversification in these early days of MASS development.

Slated for delivery in 2023, L3Harris has received just under $35M for the project in a fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract. Compared to the entire ACTUV program, which cost a total of $159.3M, it’s relatively inexpensive for the Navy. Upon examination, the difference in these numbers is quite understandable. Research and development funds aside, the total manufacturing costs of the Sea Hunter and its enabling components was $22M, just two million over what was originally planned.

Perhaps the reason for the lower cost is because L3Harris will enable the vessel’s autonomy with its commercially available ASView® Control System. This proprietary autonomous control system is the digital backbone of the company’s USV offerings. Since its launch in 2008, the software has been successfully deployed on over 115 different retrofits and newly built vessels. The core system has been steadily improved upon and allows for varying degrees of command and control functionality. While the basic levels are suited for small remotely operated craft, the company has diligently upgraded the system into an advanced expandable autonomy architecture. While its use aboard the MUSV will require additional upgrades to meet the Navy’s demands, the choice of using a ready-made commercial product offers an evident economic advantage.

What makes the MUSV contract particularly lucrative is the program’s long term potential. Once the initial prototype is satisfactorily produced, the US Navy can extend its options for procuring up to eight additional MUSV. While such an investment would require funding approval from Congress, the contract pays upwards of $281M for the nine ships in total. Should this situation playout, it would colour L3Harris as the leading producer of medium displacement autonomous vessels worldwide.

While the company is undoubtedly lining itself up to become a principal defence contractor, they are by no means a fledgling operator. L3Harris is well managed and diversified into four organizations: aviation, communication, space & airborne, and integrated mission systems. The latter of these divisions, Integrated Mission Systems (IMS), will be the formal contractor of the MUSV project. Despite the big number on the contract, it wouldn’t be entirely transformative for the company even if full options paid out. All told, the $281M figure hashes out to approximately 5% of IMS’s annual revenue.

The revenue available under the contract is not guaranteed, however. Regardless of how the Navy would like to proceed, future spending will in part be determined by Congress. The US Navy has a history of underestimating total costs for experimental vessel construction projects. Charged with the power of the purse, Congress has become increasingly wary about such situations. After the Navy’s submission of its FY 2021 budget request, lawmakers responded to the ambition citing excess procurement ahead of satisfactory testing. As such, they lent their support to the completion of the prototype but refused to guarantee additional funding until the technology’s reliability and value could be proven.

The first MUSV prototype is scheduled for completion in a little over two years from start to finish. L3Harris’s ready-made autonomy control system is undoubtedly a significant asset in saving time, but they are not alone in the project. Providing the ship design are the naval architecture firms, Incat Crowther and Gibbs & Cox. The latter had founded a specialized Unmanned and Autonomous Programs group in 2018, as such Gibbs & Cox is onboard the project in the capacity of lead ship design agent and plant automation engineering. Already the United State’s largest independent ship design agent, their entry into the autonomous sector positions them well to expand in the emerging industry. The ship manufacturer Swiftships, who have a history of experience in integrated marine platforms, will perform construction. When the vessel is complete, she is expected to maintain a cruising speed of 16kts, autonomously operating at a range of up to 4500 nautical miles. 

LUSV: Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles

In March 2019, the US Navy somewhat surprised the watchful public with the submission of the following fiscal year’s budget request. It wasn’t the ever-increasing sum to pay for a more extensive fleet, but rather a startling $2.7B for the solidification of a project kept mostly in the dark for the past four years. Known as the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP), the Navy had big plans to rapidly build out advanced equipment with a strong emphasis in autonomous systems. $400M of this would be to purchase a total of ten autonomous Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles (LUSV), at a rate of two vessels per annum over five years.

Envisioned to have a full load displacement of 1000 to 2000 tons and a length of 200 to 300 feet, the LUSV would be capable of carrying modular payloads for anti-ship and land-attack missions. The construction design would be akin to the commercial Offshore Supply Vessels serving the oil & gas industry. While defined as unmanned, these ships’ size and active operations would better lend to the term “optionally” or “lightly manned”. At a minimum, the LUSV would perform under a supervised autonomy control (human in the loop), effectively enabling a single person to command multiple vessels at one time.

The program’s backstory is classified, but we know it began shortly after DARPAs final trials of the ACTUV Sea Hunter. In 2017 the Navy’s Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office (PMS 406) and the Defense Department’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) released a draft solicitation for a demonstration plan named: Overlord Program. The draft proposal was clear enough in its intentions, but nothing beyond it manifested publicly.

Understandably, Congress was sceptical about signing off on the entire $2.7B FYDP the Navy was trying for, let alone the $400M for the armada of unproven robot ships. The hurdle of R&D, in conjunction with limited understanding of the employment of the concept, was deemed an investment risk. Perhaps the most valid concern was that of legality. Lawmakers noted the unclear policy implications of such vessels. International standards on large-scale autonomous ships are ill-defined, let alone the legal status of a potentially armed LUSV. Congress denied full funding for the fleet of ten, but they allotted money to develop two prototypes under restrictive terms. Congress ultimately would require preliminary demonstrations to prove the feasibility of the technology. Despite the pushback, the Executive branch insisted on progress allowing the Navy set out in phase I.

In what was called the Ghost Fleet Overlord, systems were installed aboard two separate Offshore Supply Vessels purchased from the commercial industry. Rigorous tests and trials were conducted and considered successful. By September 2020, the Congress approved for additional funding and the engagement of the private sector.

With their industry OSV prototypes in hand, the Department of Defense awarded a total of six firm-fixed-price contracts for further studies and analysis into the LUSV concept. The awards were roughly equal at $7M each, with Lockheed Martin managing the project. The combined total was just under $42M, with an option for engineering support bringing the cumulative total to $59.5M. The companies chosen were no surprise, with each having a history of experience with cutting edge naval projects. The other companies involved are Gibbs & Cox, Huntington Ingalls, Austal USA, Bollinger Shipyards Lockport, and Marinette Marine. Unfortunately, the fate of the Ghost Fleet Overlord program remains in fiscal limbo. With continuing pushback from Congress, the current phase is limited to design, research, testing and development. The passing of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act made no funding available to construct additional LUSV. For now, the Navy must be content with the existing prototypes until the technology is thoroughly tried and tested.

Conclusion

Throughout the more advanced seafaring nations, there is a race to develop the first commercially viable autonomous ships, otherwise known as MASS. From the EU to Russia, South Korea and Japan, governments and industry alike are investing considerable sums to develop innovative solutions to enable this future. As globalization has increased pressure for cost-savings, such technologies will enable a reduction in crew workload and enhance safety. Speculation as to whether or not the world will ever accept unmanned ships into its harbours is debatable, but at a basic level MASS will allow for less human capital and risk in maritime operations.

In some ways, the United States’s commercial shipping industry appears disinterested in this evolution. However, the country has a unique history of collaboration between the military and the private sector. For the past several decades, the military-industrial complex has worked to create some of the worlds most disruptive technologies. Many of these were later released as declassified versions of the original when deemed necessary or appropriate. Such examples of this include the earliest internet protocols, GPS, and voice-activated smart devices. These groundbreaking technologies were carefully researched and developed outside the realm of cost sensitivities in the free markets. As a result, the level of innovation and reliability in the design and concepts have regularly been beyond the scope of commonality.   

As early as WWII, the US Navy has been experimenting and utilizing varying degrees of remote command and control marine systems. In the most recent decades, this experimentation has led to the development and launch of what is the most advanced autonomous vessel publicly known, the Sea Hunter. Following its launch, the Navy began an aggressive approach to furthering more of the same, planning by 2045 between 28-48% of its 500+ fleet will be effectively unmanned. In collaboration with the most qualified of the private sector, these programs are continuing with little holdback except that of ample funding from the highest levels of government.

One of the major concerns of lawmakers is the pace at which progress is being made. These systems are still largely untried, bringing to question their reliability and safety. Perhaps more significantly, is the ill-defined legal landscape surrounding such vessels as there is no set international standard for autonomous ships. Additionally, the concept of operating with lethal payloads is uncharted territory. This issue highlights the need for international consensus on a legal framework for MASS and its enabling technologies, not simply for defence but also ocean bourn trade and commerce.

Despite Congress’s reluctance to fund the construction of an unmanned armada, there is a clear recognition that USV’s will play an important role in the future of the US Navy. With several autonomous prototypes on hand, lawmakers have requested a series of tests, trials and analysis before funds are given to expand the fleet. While this could be perceived as a setback, there is a general consensus that with more knowledge comes trust. Lawmakers have conceded that once these technologies are proven fully viable, the Navy will have its desired fleet.

As commercial MASS becomes more common, it is possible that the military will recognize that their systems at a declassified level, could serve to benefit the whole maritime industry. As MASS advances, it may achieve equivalence to the Navy’s proprietary technology. At this point, there will be little reason to not sell or make available their systems, thus recouping a portion of their investment and betterment of the civilian sector. While this scenario is speculative, it has ample historical precedence. At a minimum, the US Navy’s adoption of large scale USVs will help to create trust in the new technology, and likewise propel the contractors of the US military-industrial complex into the forefront of MASS development.

“These will be everywhere…” At the christening ceremony at the launch of the world’s first autonomous warship, Sea Hunter. -Robert Work, Deputy Secretary of Defense

Appendix

ACTUV timeline of accomplishments *Obtained from DARPA budget estimates 2010-2017  FY 2009 Accomplishments:

• Conducted analysis of unmanned naval vessel concepts and operational employment.
• Identified core technologies required to enable unique large scale unmanned naval vessel capabilities.
• Developed exploratory system concept designs.
• Conducted preliminary operations effectiveness analysis and developed concept of operations to take advantage of unique system characteristics.

FY 2010 Accomplishments:

• Conducted mission-focused integrated system concept development for ACTUV.
• Made ACTUV critical enabling technology assessments.
• Conducted ACTUV producibility and manufacturing sourcing analysis.
• Initiated ACTUV program concept design and risk reduction development activity.
• Completed exploratory studies validating operational, legal, and economic viability of the TEMP concept.

FY 2011 Accomplishments:

• Completed multiple comprehensive integrated system concept design activities for ACTUV including supporting technology surveys, concept of operations  development, preliminary operational performance assessments, and fabrication planning.
• Completed sensor and autonomy risk reduction and proof of principle testing for ACTUV.
• Developed ACTUV system concept of operations and conducted preliminary operational performance assessments.
• Integrated preliminary system performance specifications from competing system concepts into ACTUV best-of-breed system performance specification for the demonstration activity.
• Completed initial Tactical Expandable Maritime Platform (TEMP) Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) Concept of Operations.
• Refined TEMP HA/DR conceptual designs.
• Completed TEMP Modular Sea Depot dry land docking testing.
• Completed TEMP Modular Sea Depot in-water propulsion testing.

FY 2012 Accomplishments:

• Initiated ACTUV integrated prototype detailed design, fabrication, and demonstration activity.
• Conducted incremental demonstrations of ACTUV critical enabling technologies.
• Commenced development of ACTUV surrogate hardware-in-the-loop system.
• Completed ACTUV concept of operations and preliminary operational performance assessments including situational awareness sensor performance, sonar sensor performance, and autonomous control architectures.

FY 2013 Accomplishments:

• Completed ACTUV detailed design and conducted critical design review.
• Performed demonstrations of ACTUV critical enabling technologies.
• Conducted integrated system demonstration on ACTUV surrogate hardware-in-the-loop system.

FY 2014 Accomplishments:

• Conducted ACTUV sensor and autonomy testing on surrogate platform.
• Initiated ACTUV prototype vessel construction.
• Signed Memorandum of Agreement with the Office of Naval Research for collaborative extended testing of the ACTUV platform.

FY 2015 Accomplishments:

• Integrated software and hardware into the ACTUV platform.
• Initiated development of alternative payloads.

FY 2016 Accomplishments:

• Completed construction of prototype vessel.
• Initiated at-sea testing to validate baseline performance of vessel, sensor systems, and autonomy.
• Moved the vessel from the contractor facility to a Navy facility in San Diego for long term testing with the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
• Demonstrated improved situational awareness and autonomy capabilities, incorporating advanced above water sensors.
• Demonstrated the ability to successfully integrate a new mission payload, Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems (TALONS).

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