Overview
- Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao confirmed on Oct. 14 that the Leidos Seahawk unmanned surface vessel is deployed with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group.
- Navy officials say this is the first time a U.S. carrier strike group has sailed with a large-size USV and called the ship a "force multiplier" that can extend the strike group's capabilities.
- Leidos built the Seahawk, which moved from experimental status into the fleet in April after trials including RIMPAC, and a person familiar with the ship described it as about 145 tons and 42 meters long with endurance for months-long operations.
- Cao pointed to prior operational uses of uncrewed systems to show growing mission roles, noting a Corsair USV rescue of downed Apache crew members and uncrewed underwater vehicles used to remove mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Officials say the deployment could expand sensing, electronic-warfare, logistics and potential strike options for carrier groups but noted that technical, command-and-control and legal rules for operating large USVs remain unresolved and will shape future use.