{"id":33048,"date":"2020-06-19T23:01:45","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T23:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/19\/the-pentagon-wants-to-forge-ahead-with-robot-warships-but-congress-wants-to-slow-the-train\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:40:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:40:01","slug":"the-pentagon-wants-to-forge-ahead-with-robot-warships-but-congress-wants-to-slow-the-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/06\/19\/the-pentagon-wants-to-forge-ahead-with-robot-warships-but-congress-wants-to-slow-the-train\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pentagon wants to forge ahead with robot warships, but Congress wants to slow the train"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/heres-5-things-you-should-know-about-the-us-navys-plans-for-big-autonomous-missile-boats\/\" target=_blank>Unmanned surface vessels<\/a> are all the rage in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/06\/01\/to-compete-with-china-an-internal-pentagon-study-looks-to-pour-money-into-robot-submarines\/\" target=_blank>Office of the Secretary of Defense<\/a>, and the U.S. Navy has lined up behind the effort. But Congress remains skeptical until it sees the Navy make progress on the basics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the latest sign of congressional ambivalence on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/01\/15\/the-us-navy-moves-toward-unleashing-killer-robot-ships-on-the-worlds-oceans\/\" target=_blank>unmanned surface warships<\/a>, the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee called for restricting funding for procurement of any large unmanned surface vessels, or LUSV, until the Navy can certify it has worked out an appropriate hull and mechanical and electrical system, and that it can operate autonomously for 30 consecutive days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Furthermore, the Navy must demonstrate a reliable operating system and that any systems integrated into the platform \u2014 sonars, radars, etc. \u2014 are likewise functioning and reliable, according the text of the subcommittee\u2019s markup of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress\u2019s annual defense policy bill, obtained by Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In short, the language would mean the Navy could not spend procurement dollars on a large unmanned surface vessel until it has a working model, and it may not try to develop those technologies on the fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/06\/01\/us-navy-embraces-robot-ships-but-some-unresolved-issues-are-holding-them-back\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"175\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DARPA-unmanned-submarine-hunter.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US Navy embraces robot ships, but some unresolved issues are holding them back<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. military is banking on unmanned surface and subsurface vessels to boost its capacity in the face of a tsunami of Chinese naval spending. But before it can field the systems, it must answer some basic questions.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s the same kind of subsystem development language that was championed in the Senate Armed Services Committee\u2019s markup of the FY21 NDAA, which \u201crequires the Navy to qualify the main engines and generators for certain unmanned surface vessels prior to vessel procurement,\u201d according to a summary of the markup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Defense Department has been championing a major shift away from large surface combatants, based on decisions by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2020\/02\/09\/defense-secretary-mark-esper-on-how-the-navy-can-get-to-355-ships\/\" target=_blank>Defense Secretary Mark Esper<\/a> that are in line with his in-house think tank, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/04\/20\/defense-department-study-calls-for-cutting-2-of-the-us-navys-aircraft-carriers\/\" target=_blank>Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office<\/a>. Instead the Pentagon wants to focus on fielding more unmanned platforms with missile cells that can be more expendable in a fight and act as an external missile magazine for larger manned combatants with more exquisite sensors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Congress has repeatedly balked at the idea because the Navy has yet to produce a concept of operations or a coherent public strategy to back up the investment plan. Congress is also wary of appropriating money for platforms that rely on technologies that aren\u2019t fully developed \u2014 a practice that has caused countless delays to the littoral combat ship\u2019s mission modules and held up the construction of the new aircraft carrier Ford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"606\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ghost.JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-35670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ghost.JPG.jpg 800w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ghost.JPG.jpg?resize=300,227 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ghost.JPG.jpg?resize=768,582 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">One of the two prototypes purchased by the Office of the Secretary of Defense&#8217;s Strategic Capabilities Office for its Ghost Fleet Overlord program, aimed at fielding an autonomous surface ship capable of launching missiles. (Photo: DoD)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>No weapons, new bureaucrats<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The language in the markup also restricts the Navy from putting weapons on the LUSV until the \u201cSecretary of the Defense certifies to the congressional defense committees that any large unmanned surface vessel that employs offensive weapons will comply with the law of armed conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the second such restriction put on weapons systems being integrated into unmanned surface vessels in as many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last year, after a fight with Congress over procuring large unmanned surface vessels, Congress blocked the Navy from integrating the vertical launch system on the LUSV. At the time, Congress said it would address the vertical launch system at a future date. In total, lawmakers appropriated $209.2 million for the two LUSVs, with another $50 million for designing the ship without a vertical launching system, in FY20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in yet another sign that Congress is uncomfortable with the pace of autonomous system development, the sea power subcommittee\u2019s markup directs the Navy to create an office to oversee autonomous systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, many of the unmanned and autonomous systems fall under the leadership of Rear Adm. Casey Moton, the program executive officer of unmanned and small combatants for the Navy. But the markup directs the Navy to set up a new program executive officer for autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNot later than February 1, 2022, the Secretary of the Navy shall designate a program executive officer for autonomy who shall be the official within the Department of the Navy with primary responsibility for the development and integration of autonomous technology into weapon systems,\u201d the markup read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The details of what role that office would play in unmanned surface vessels is not made clear in the language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawmakers are wary of giving the Navy too much leash on unmanned warships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9428,"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":86,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[29,117,15,86],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3387],"class_list":["post-33048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VJZ2KZSDXBGDBHMKA3NBZG7PPI","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2020\/06\/19\/the-pentagon-wants-to-forge-ahead-with-robot-warships-but-congress-wants-to-slow-the-train\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Pentagon wants to forge ahead with robot warships, but Congress wants to slow the train - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lawmakers are wary of giving the Navy too much leash on unmanned warships.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/06\/19\/the-pentagon-wants-to-forge-ahead-with-robot-warships-but-congress-wants-to-slow-the-train\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pentagon wants to forge ahead with robot warships, but Congress wants to slow the train\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lawmakers are wary of giving the Navy too much leash on unmanned warships.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/06\/19\/the-pentagon-wants-to-forge-ahead-with-robot-warships-but-congress-wants-to-slow-the-train\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-19T23:01:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T21:40:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. 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