{"id":54516,"date":"2019-12-10T19:23:39","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T19:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/12\/10\/congress-slows-the-us-navys-roll-toward-a-robot-ship-future\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:55:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:55:28","slug":"congress-slows-the-us-navys-roll-toward-a-robot-ship-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2019\/12\/10\/congress-slows-the-us-navys-roll-toward-a-robot-ship-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress slows the US Navy\u2019s roll toward a robot-ship future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Navy\u2019s newfound zeal for unmanned surface vessels<\/a> has been met by skepticism in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress\u2019 long-delayed National Defense Authorization Act came back from negotiations among lawmakers with limits on the Navy\u2019s plan for unmanned <\/a>surface vessels, with authorizers halving the obtainable number of large unmanned surface vehicles, or LUSV, the service requested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service asked for two of the LUSVs, with plans to buy eight more over the five-year projection known as the Future Years Defense Program, or FYDP. The NDAA also allows the Navy to buy two medium unmanned surface vessels, which the Navy envisions as autonomous sensor platforms for functions such as anti-submarine warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive toward integrating unmanned surface vehicles in the force, which Navy officials suggested could make up a significant portion of the future fleet\u2019s force structure, was kicked off in earnest with the rollout of the 2020 budget. Senior Navy officials have talked about the LUSV as a kind of external missile magazine that can autonomously navigate to and integrate with the force, then shoot its missiles and return for reload, keeping the big manned surface combatants in the fight and fielded longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\t