{"id":48534,"date":"2025-04-11T13:41:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T13:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/04\/11\/inside-the-navy-task-group-testing-drone-boats-in-the-red-sea\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:37:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:37:40","slug":"inside-the-navy-task-group-testing-drone-boats-in-the-red-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/unmanned\/2025\/04\/11\/inside-the-navy-task-group-testing-drone-boats-in-the-red-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Navy task group testing drone boats in the Red Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A year-old Navy task group<\/a> assigned to stress-test unmanned surface vessels in the forbidding heat of the Middle East is making breakthroughs \u2014 despite interference from hostile actors attempting to damage or nab the boats as they\u2019re underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this spring, the test unit launched a handful of unmanned vessels from Aqaba, Jordan, into the Red Sea<\/a> with a broad-edged surveillance mission: to observe the \u201cpattern of life\u201d in the region and increase maritime domain awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These particular drone boats<\/a>, however, were equipped with technology \u2014 the details of which the Navy is not disclosing \u2014 to allow them to navigate independently of GPS in the case of hostile efforts to disrupt or block signals from satellites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boats, which fit in the category of Small Unmanned Surface Vessel, or SUSV, meaning they\u2019re less than 14 feet long, are stress-testing tech that may someday be used by the Navy wherever there is a threat of malicious disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s certain waterways here in Fifth Fleet that are GPS-contested \u2014 you can\u2019t just transit there [with] a regular GPS, because the GPS will show you elsewhere, so your position is not accurate,\u201d Lt. Luis Echeverria, commanding officer of the Navy\u2019s Bahrain-based Task Group 59.1, told Military Times in an interview. \u201cSo, there is a payload embedded onto this small USV that allows for the USV to understand its actual position while it\u2019s being jammed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Task Group 59.1, nicknamed \u201cThe Pioneers,\u201d activated in January 2024 under Echeverria\u2019s command. While the Navy\u2019s Task Force 59, also located in Manama, Bahrain, has a broader mission focused on integrating unmanned systems and AI into surface operations, the task group zooms in on manned-unmanned teaming, and tests a variety of drone boat technologies for possible further development or employment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That many of these technologies are commercial innovations and prototypes that the Navy hasn\u2019t yet invested in means unit officials must be delicate about the details they disclose to avoid the appearance of endorsement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vessels deployed in the Red Sea, for example, are most likely variants of the Saildrone Voyager USV<\/a>, a platform that has participated in Navy testing for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSaildrone\u2019s innovative solution leverages multiple forms of localization, ensuring seamless operation without relying exclusively on satellite systems, and allowing operations to continue in contested environments,\u201d company officials said<\/a> in a March release highlighting the platform\u2019s new GPS-denied technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel operates with the U.S. Coast Guard’s fast response cutter Robert Goldman in the Arabian Gulf on Oct. 7, 2022. (MCC Roland Franklin\/U.S. Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Following the systems\u2019 test deployment, Echeverria\u2019s unit will develop an after-action report with insights into successes and failures and recommendations for the fleet. As the Navy continues to experiment toward the end of finding a meaningful and permanent place for unmanned vessels alongside and in concert with its manned ships, this task group aims to keep the service from investing in tech that\u2019s not ready or can\u2019t meet the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the unit first stood up it was tasked with deploying Seasats\u2019 autonomous surface vessel Lightfish into the Red Sea with some untested deception capabilities, Echeverria told an audience earlier this year at the Surface Navy Association\u2019s annual symposium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe failed. But that was fine, because there are good failures, and this was a good failure. We failed quickly,\u201d Echeverria said. \u201cWe adapted, we iterated and we overcame.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later that year, with improvements and better established operating protocols, the vessel was able to sail for 17 days, covering 600 nautical miles and integrating its operations with manned ships in the region, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already, the task group, he said, has sent unmanned vessels it\u2019s tested to the U.S. Fourth Fleet \u2014 the waters around central and South America \u2014 to be used in operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the year, Fourth Fleet announced the launch of \u201cOperation Southern Spear<\/a>,\u201d which will deploy \u201clong-dwell robotic surface vessels, small robotic interceptor boats and vertical take-off and landing robotic air vessels\u201d to the region for maritime domain awareness and counternarcotics ops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experimenting in the Red Sea and other waters in the 5th Fleet area of operations does have its challenges. Echeverria cited the extreme heat as another stressor for test vessels. And in January, he acknowledged that, following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, the Navy had seen increased efforts by hostile actors to steal unmanned vessels launched by the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been able to retain all of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a March interview, Echeverria declined to say whether efforts to capture USVs in the Red Sea still continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An upcoming experiment in planning by Task Group 59.1 may soon make it easier and more practical for Navy commanders to employ unmanned vessels in concert with manned assets. The experiment, which involves flying drones, will employ them using JP-5, the Navy\u2019s standard kerosene-based jet fuel, instead of other fuel variants including JP-4 and JP-8. This change eliminates the need for a waiver and reduces drag, Echeverria said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can quickly deploy the asset where, in the past \u2026 you had to take precautionary measures on how you refuel the vessel or the system, so it just makes the process a little bit quicker,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later this year, the task group will receive an advisor from the Navy\u2019s newest rating: Robotics Warfare Specialist, a job created last year<\/a> in concert with the Navy\u2019s work to fast-track unmanned and robotic technology into the fleet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Echeverria said the specialist will help the unit understand how to best employ the technology in its purview and match it to requirements coming from the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a very skilled group of enlisted sailors that are eager to learn every single day and are eager to get these systems out there, because they understand that this is the future,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m really excited for what my team has been able to accomplish in such a small time frame \u2026 to the point where we\u2019re seeing similar assets being utilized in other waterways, just based off of what we\u2019ve learned out here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this spring, the Navy unit launched a handful of unmanned vessels from Aqaba, Jordan, into the Red Sea with a broad-edged surveillance mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":111093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":27,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2594],"class_list":["post-48534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unmanned"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ESFNIFGD3BFKDDWX7K4QJCLJMY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2025\/04\/11\/inside-the-navy-task-group-testing-drone-boats-in-the-red-sea\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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