What’s new in Navy and Marine Corps unmanned boats

MARINE CORPS READ OF THE DAY

What’s new in Navy and Marine Corps unmanned boats
By Megan Eckstein
Thursday, May 19
U.S. Navy surface drones Seahawk, front, and Sea Hunter launched Tuesday during the Navy's first-ever unmanned exercise in San Diego. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas Gooley/Navy)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps promised a “build a little, test a little, learn a lot” approach to unmanned vessels, and the lessons learned are already leading to some changes.

In the last month, the Navy has announced it is ditching its Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, raised questions about the future of the Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle and stood up a new command for unmanned surface vessel fleet integration. The Marine Corps also recently accepted delivery of its own unmanned ship for experimentation that will inform future distributed operations.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SGT Charlie Lee PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones Sgt (Join to see) SrA John Monette SFC Bernard Walko SPC Michael Terrell SMSgt Anil Heendeniya CPL Douglas Chrysler A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney GySgt Jack Wallace CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD SGT Mark Anderson