Image source: topwar.ru
Currently, the US Navy has 7 large and medium-sized prototypes of the USV – an unmanned surface ship of medium size, which have already demonstrated their capabilities well. However, small unmanned ships operating as part of Task Force 59 are already performing their tasks, and very successfully.
The chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Gilday, said earlier that the success of Task Force 59 with the use of small unmanned ships had changed his ideas about the prospects for the possible combat use of unmanned ships.
In 2022, several experiments took place, including during naval exercises in the Hawaiian Islands. Rear Admiral Fred Pyle, who was responsible for the surface part of the exercises, noted that he was impressed with the capabilities that unmanned ships have.
Image source: topwar.ru
On January 11, 2023, speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Surface Naval Forces, he told the American edition of Defense News that unmanned ships are advantageous for use for such purposes as conducting intelligence and surveillance and solving Naval cybersecurity tasks.
Now the US Navy is going to launch the LUSV program in fiscal year 2025, but its public discussion is not yet underway. The command has not decided whether to stop on medium or small unmanned surface ships. Rear Admiral Pyle noted that there is already investment in medium-sized unmanned surface ships. Now Navy specialists are studying the prospects of cooperation for solving combat tasks of unmanned ships with aircraft carrier strike groups and Marine Corps units.
Recall that unmanned surface ships of medium size have been participating in Navy experiments since 2021. As Admiral Gilday noted at the conference, he expects that the first such ship will be deployed with an aircraft carrier strike group of the US Navy in 2027.
