Inspired by Ukraine, the US Marine builds a fleet of autonomous drones, to counteract the great rival in the Pacific, but things do not go well at all

During an American naval test off the coast of California last month, which aimed to present the best performing autonomous drones of the Pentagon, a ship stopped suddenly.

While officials were in a hurry to remedy a software problem, another drone ship crashed on the right side of the stopped ship, ricocheted over the deck and then collapsed back into the water – a surprised incident in several images obtained by the Reuters news agency.

The episode, which has not been reported before and in which two ships built by American rival companies in the field of poor defense and Blacksea Technologies were involved, is part of a series of recent failures in the Pentagon's efforts to build a fleet of autonomous ships, say twelve people familiar with the program.

A few weeks earlier, during a separate US Navy test, the captain of a support ship was thrown into the water after another Blacksea autonomous ship on which the trailer has suddenly accelerated, overturning the support ship, according to four people familiar with the problem. The captain was saved and refused medical care. The incident was reported for the first time by Defense Scoop.

Both incidents were caused by a combination of software and human errors, including malfunction between on board systems and autonomous external software, according to a person with direct knowledge on this subject, who has requested the protection of anonymity in order to share sensitive information.

The US Marina, Saronic and Blacksea refused to comment on incidents.

The video recordings showing the collision of the drone were checked by two Reuters sources, the landscape corresponding to the images of the land. Also, the name Garc-096 and the boat structure corresponded to the images from the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (Garc) file.

US military leaders, seeing the enormous impact of maritime drones in the Ukraine war, have repeatedly said that they need autonomous air and naval drones to prevent a potential advancement of China over the Taiwan Strait in the Pacific Ocean. The Taiwan started to purchase its own maritime drones.

Drones developed in Ukraine, which often look like fast boats without chairs and are capable of carrying weapons, explosives and surveillance equipment, are mainly remotely controlled and cost almost $ 250,000, which makes them optimal for kamikaze missions that have effectively neutralized the Russian Fleet in the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, the US intends to build an autonomous naval fleet that can move into swarms and without orders introduced by people – a more ambitious task, with a higher price, up to several million dollars for each fast boat.

Recent tests of tests highlight the challenges facing the efforts of the American navy to implement the incipient technologies, said Bryan Clark, an autonomous war expert at the Hudson Institute. Marina will have to adapt her “tactics as she understands better what they can and what they cannot do,” he added.

But the problems of the US Navy are not limited to the commissioning of the boats: its unit of purchase of autonomous maritime drones was also shaken by the dismissal of its top, and a high official of the Pentagon expressed his concern in a sincere meeting with the leadership of the navy last month.

After the latest incident, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), within the Pentagon, who had purchased test technology, has suspended a contract worth almost 20 million dollars with L3harris, one of the companies that provide autonomous software used to control some ships, according to two people familiar with the problem.

The Pentagon did not answer questions about the cause of accidents or the suspension of the contract with L3harris, which was not announced above.

A spokesman for the Pentagon said that drone tests were performed as part of a “competitive and iterative approach between operators and industry.”

L3harris refused to comment on the contract and redirected the questions to the DIU. For her part, DIU refused to offer a point of view.

“L3harris guarantees the safety, integrity and ability of our autonomous control and control product,” said Toby Magsig, which supervises autonomous software developed by L3harris.

Ascension of naval drones

In order to accelerate the efforts in the field of drones, the Pentagon launched in 2023 the Replicator program, worth $ 1 billion, through which branches such as the USA Marina and DIU have planned to purchase thousands of air and maritime drones, together with the software required for their control. The first systems in this program are to be announced this month.

Marina has allocated at least $ 160 million for Blacksea, which produces dozens of Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft monthly, according to purchases.

Saronic, who was recently evaluated at $ 4 billion in a round of financing supported by Andreessen Horowitz and 8VC, produces Corsair competitive maritime drone, but has not yet announced an important contract. The federal public procurement registers show that the company has generated at least $ 20 million from prototype agreements.

“These systems will play an essential role in the future of the Naval War, extending the range of the fleet, improving the awareness of the situation and increasing the efficiency in battle,” said Jim Kilby, the interim chief of naval operations, during a visit to the Blacksea headquarters, in June.

Agitation within the American navy

Since returning to the position of president, Donald Trump has made a top military priority from mass use. Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill” legislative project, adopted last month, includes almost $ 5 billion for autonomous maritime systems.

However, so far, the navy approach has been greeted with skepticism by the new administration.

In April, the key unit of the navy responsible for the purchase of drones-known as the Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants program (PEO)-praised, in a Linkedin post, the successful demonstration used to control Blacksea ships, greeting it as “an important step in promoting the autonomy”.

In response, Colin Carroll, then chief of office of the Deputy Defense Secretary, Steven Feinberg, suggested that the program doubles other efforts within the Pentagon. “I have the feeling that there will be changes in the future of this program,” he replied to the post on LinkedIn. Carroll, who no longer works at the Pentagon, refused to make other comments.

The Peo USC unit was recently subjected to a review, according to four people familiar with the problem, due to a series of failures, and may be restructured or closed.

This comes two months after Marina announced that at the head of the unit, the counter -amyano Kevin Smith, due to the loss of confidence in his leadership capacity, after the Marine Inspector general confirmed a complaint against him. Reuters failed to contact Smith.

During a meeting last month, Feinberg interrogated Marine officials about the capabilities of autonomous ships, including those used by PEO USC, say three informed people about the meeting. Fainberg was not impressed by some of the capacities purchased by the military navy and questioned their profitability, the sources said.

A spokesman for the Pentagon said: “We will not comment on the private internal meetings” and directed the questions about Peo USC to the Military Navy.

The military navy refused to comment on the meeting or purchasing unit that is the subject of the investigation. Timothy Hawkins spokesman said Peo USC maintains its mission, including its role of purchasing authority to maintain and modernize unanswered maritime systems.

The agitation occurs in the context in which naval builders and software providers try to obtain larger autonomous maritime projects, such as unmanned submarines and freight ships.

Last week, Peo USC began accepting proposals for Modular Attack Surface Craft, for the purchase of middle and large ships capable of carrying containers and surveillance equipment and attacks.

TX Hammes, an expert in autonomous weapons and a member of the Atlantic Council, says Marina is in unknown waters, trying to quickly review decades old traditions.

“You have an ordinary system to build big things, which require years to make a decision, and now, you suddenly ask them to act quickly,” he said.