{"id":15424,"date":"2025-08-21T19:03:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=15424"},"modified":"2025-08-21T19:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:03:51","slug":"us-navys-long-awaited-autonomous-boat-test-ends-in-failure-off-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=15424","title":{"rendered":"US Navy\u2019s Long-Awaited Autonomous Boat Test Ends In Failure Off California"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    US Navy\u2019s Long-Awaited Autonomous Boat Test Ends In Failure Off California<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    <!-- no image --><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-300x157.jpg?resize=300%2C157&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"US Navy\u2019s Long-Awaited Autonomous Boat Test Ends In Failure Off California\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;margin-right:10px;width:150px; height:150px;float:left;\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1873905\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1873905\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1873905\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat.jpg?resize=1200%2C628\" alt=\"Autonomous Boat\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Autonomous-Boat-150x79.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1873905\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image Credits: US Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The U.S. Navy\u2019s plan to build a fleet of autonomous drone ships to counter China is facing major setbacks, with test failures, leadership changes, and even a Pentagon contract on hold.<\/p>\n<p>In a much-anticipated trial off California last month, two autonomous boats malfunctioned. One stalled due to a software error, while another rammed into it, launching over the deck before falling back into the sea.<\/p>\n<p>The crash involved vessels built by rival U.S. defense startups Saronic and BlackSea Technologies.<\/p>\n<p>Weeks earlier, another mishap occurred when a BlackSea vessel being towed suddenly sped up. The unexpected acceleration capsized the support boat pulling it, throwing the captain into the water. The captain was rescued and refused medical treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Both incidents pointed to failures in communication between the vessels\u2019 onboard systems and the external autonomous control software.<\/p>\n<p>Following the crashes, the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) put on hold a contract worth nearly $20 million with L3Harris, the company providing some of the drone control software.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. military has been inspired by the success of maritime drones in Ukraine. Ukraine has deployed low-cost, remote-controlled sea drones, about $250,000 each, that have carried explosives and weapons in kamikaze-style missions, striking Russia\u2019s Black Sea Fleet.<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon aims to build autonomous swarms of boats that can operate without human control. Each could cost millions, but they would extend the fleet\u2019s reach, improve surveillance, and strengthen combat power.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JbddXMw-vzs?si=BFDkU1_TCOUifNGM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nVideo Credits: USNI News Video\/YouTube<\/p>\n<p>The Navy has already spent at least $160 million into BlackSea, which is producing dozens of GARC drones monthly, according to procurement filings.<\/p>\n<p>Saronic, backed by investors including Andreessen Horowitz and 8VC, was recently valued at $4 billion. Per reports, Saronic has earned at least $20 million from prototype agreements.<\/p>\n<p>In June, acting Chief of Naval Operations Jim Kilby toured BlackSea\u2019s production facility, where he said these systems would play an important role in future warfare by extending fleet operations, improving awareness, and increasing combat capability.<\/p>\n<p>The project is part of the Pentagon\u2019s $1 billion Replicator program, started in 2023 to buy thousands of aerial and maritime drones and the software to run them. The first systems are expected to be announced this month.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump has made drones a key part of U.S. military upgrades. His \u201cBig Beautiful Bill,\u201d passed last month, set aside nearly $5 billion for autonomous naval systems.<\/p>\n<p><em>Reference: Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    MI News Network<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/shipping-news\/us-navys-long-awaited-autonomous-boat-test-ends-in-failure-off-california\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=us-navys-long-awaited-autonomous-boat-test-ends-in-failure-off-california\">Go to marine insight<\/a><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Navy\u2019s Long-Awaited Autonomous Boat Test Ends In Failure Off California Image Credits: US Navy The U.S. Navy\u2019s plan to build a fleet of autonomous drone ships to counter China is facing major setbacks, with test failures, leadership changes, and even a Pentagon contract on hold. In a much-anticipated trial off California last month, two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,196],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-15424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marine-insight","category-shipping-news","tag-marine-insight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}