This collective rally cry triggered a steady feed of major defense-related contract announcements, new collaborations, and operational milestones that signpost a convergence of marine-based technologies certain to redraw future battlelines.
RAPID RESPONSE
USVs featured heavily, with navies seeking to integrate uncrewed platforms at scale into a hybrid fleet approach. In March, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the USX-1 Defiant, its “No Manning Required Ship” (NOMARS) prototype engineered for year-long autonomous deployments; the 55-m USV was ceremoniously christened in August 2025.
In September, HII entered the USV market, unveiling its high payload, high endurance 58m ROMULUS USV designed to pair with other USVs, AUVs, and UAVs under the company’s established autonomy software; in early December, HII announced that the first ROMULUS vessel was already 30% complete.
In October, we learned of a strategic collaboration between Lockheed Martin and Saildrone to equip commercially available USVs—including with lethal, combat-proven defense technology; the companies announced a goal of delivering integrations, including on-water, live fire demonstrations, in 2026.
While these platforms are destined for distinct applications, the tone is one of urgency. Now is the time to scale at pace to effectively extend the operational range and utility of uncrewed assets. And the commercial sector is responding.
BREAKING NEW GROUND
Smaller USVs also got in on the act. Seasats’ 3.5-m solar-powered Lightfish made headlines in July following a successful 7,500-mile autonomous voyage across the Pacific Ocean, a feat likely to have helped ink a major SBIR Phase 3 indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, in October, to deliver a sizeable fleet of Lightfish USVs to the US Marine Corps. The company also managed to find the time to demo Quickfish, a new rapid interceptor USV capable of multi-week deployments.
The tactical integration of USVs was on full display at various naval exercises around the globe in 2025, but when it comes to the effective use of quick-to-build, expendable USVs for force multiplication purposes, the Royal Navy’s (RN) October demonstration of five 7.2m Rattler uncrewed RIBs—piloted from over 500 miles away—escorting HMS Tyne was indicative of a future in which USV swarms become the first line of warship protection.
ENABLING SUBSEA SURVEILLANCE
Below the surface, AUVs of diversifying form and factor competed for the headlines. As with USVs, scale is as much about dimensions as it is fleet numbers, and throughout 2025, there were significant operational achievements for the various XLUUVs currently being developed for months-long missions, offering operators extensive subsea range and payload capacity.
Again, the Royal Navy is, in every sense, pushing the boundaries of remote operations. During Exercise Talisman Sabre, in July/August, the RN’s 12-m XV Excalibur was successfully controlled in UK waters from a command center 10,000 miles away, in Australia. Geographically, can it get more remote? Then, in December, senior RN officials released details of a multi-layered, all-domain approach to building North Atlantic deterrence to counter increased Russian submarine activity near seabed cables and energy infrastructure.
The RN’s Atlantic Bastion—an AI-enabled hybrid naval force, linking ships, submarines, aircraft, and unmanned surface and underwater systems—is central to the UK’s bold maritime strategy, the execution of which will hinge on a long supply chain of specialist tech developers poised to deliver. And quickly, tangible deliverables— autonomous underwater sensors for surveillance—are pledged to be in the water at some point in 2026. Watch this space for developments.
Small and medium-sized AUVs will also help sharpen this tactical edge. Throughout 2025, on both sides of the pond, various companies tested the deployment of AUVs for torpedo-tube launch and recovery. This is not a new concept, but the speed at which we are seeing progress, especially with docking and retrieval, is.
These are just a few of the 2025 breakthroughs certain to shape collaborative efforts in 2026 and beyond. These initiatives, and many others around the world, share a common goal: to optimize marine domain awareness and a readiness to respond to potential threats.
This spotlight appeared in ON&T Magazine’s 2026 January Special Edition, The Future of Ocean Technology Vol. 6, to read more access the magazine here.
