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Category: Naval Technology
If you are interested in Naval Technology and how it shapes the U.S. Navy and its mission, you will enjoy reading this blog category. Here you will find articles, interviews, stories, and opinions on various topics related to naval technology, such as the latest developments, innovations, challenges, and opportunities. You will also learn about the history and importance of naval technology and how it has enabled the Navy to protect American interests and defend the country. Whether you are a naval professional or a technology enthusiast, you will find something informative and engaging in this blog category.
The future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) has begun shipbuilder sea trials.
That sentence sounds technical. Routine. Almost boring.
It is anything but.
I still remember the first time I saw USS Enterprise (CVN-65).
Not in a book. Not in a documentary. But in person — a city of steel at sea that didn’t just float… it projected presence. You didn’t need anyone to explain what it meant. You felt it.
Eight reactors. A flat deck that seemed to stretch to the horizon. Sailors moving with purpose. Aircraft launching into the sky like it was routine business for a nation that understood the oceans mattered.
Enterprise wasn’t just a ship. She was a statement.
She told the world that the United States knew how to build big things, maintain them, crew them, and keep them forward where they mattered most.
That memory came rushing back this week as the future USS John F. Kennedy began sea trials.
Different era. Different technology. Same message trying to break through the noise:
America still knows how to build ships like this.
But here’s the part that concerns me.
When I saw Enterprise, there was no question we had the industrial base, the shipyards, the workforce, and the national will to keep ships like her coming. Today, every new carrier feels like a minor miracle of coordination, learning curves, delays, and hard-won progress.
Sea trials for Kennedy are more than a shipbuilder milestone. They’re a reminder of what we used to do routinely — and what we now must work very hard to preserve.
And that’s why this moment matters far more than most Americans realize..
For the first time, America’s next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is operating in open water, testing the systems that will carry U.S. power, deterrence, and stability across the world’s oceans for the next 50 years.
This is not just a shipyard milestone. This is a strategic milestone for the United States.
What Sea Trials Really Mean
Sea trials are where theory meets reality.
This is where:
the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System is proven at sea
the Advanced Arresting Gear is tested in real conditions
the new SPY-6 radar begins to show what modern naval sensing looks like
and lessons learned from USS Gerald R. Ford are put into practice
This is the Navy and the shipyard proving that American industrial capability still works.
But There’s A Catch Most People Miss
USS John F. Kennedy won’t join the fleet until 2027.
In that time:
USS Nimitz retires this spring
USS Harry S. Truman begins a long overhaul
USS John C. Stennis is already over a year behind schedule in overhaul
That means for the next two years, the Navy will be operating with fewer carriers than planned during a period when China is expanding its fleet, its shipyards, and its maritime presence at record speed.
This is the readiness gap Americans don’t see.
Why Americans Should Care
Aircraft carriers are not symbols. They are mobile sovereign territory.
They protect:
global trade routes
allies in Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific
undersea cables and energy lanes
the economic system Americans rely on every day
When carriers are in overhaul and replacements are delayed, coverage shrinks. And when coverage shrinks, deterrence weakens.
Implications for the Navy
The Navy is doing what it can with what it has. Shipbuilders are learning from past mistakes and improving delivery.
But the industrial timeline is unforgiving. You cannot rush nuclear carriers. You cannot surge shipyards overnight. You cannot rebuild lost capacity in a crisis.
This is why shipbuilding, maintenance, and industrial capacity are national security issues — not procurement trivia.
Implications for Our Allies
Allies don’t measure American commitment by speeches. They measure it by hulls at sea.
Sea trials for John F. Kennedy signal that more hulls are coming. But the gap between now and 2027 is where risk lives.
The Bigger Picture
This story isn’t about one carrier.
It’s about whether America remembers how to build, maintain, and sustain the fleet that keeps the world’s oceans stable.
That’s why this matters.
That’s why Americans should care.
That’s why we launched Charting the Course: Voices That Matter — a 24-part educational series breaking down how we got here, what went wrong, and what must happen next. Our goal is simple: educate the public, connect the dots, and build the support needed to close the readiness gap before it’s too late.
While we focus on ship counts, readiness percentages, and hull maintenance, there’s another critical battle being fought in Navy Medicine laboratories that directly impacts our fleet’s combat power: the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) just completed a six-year research program that could revolutionize how we protect our sailors and Marines from one of the most insidious threats they face—bacterial infections that laugh at our best antibiotics.
The Invisible Enemy
Here’s the reality: our warfighters aren’t just exposed to enemy fire. They face bacteria through combat injuries, deployments to overseas locations, and the close-quarters environment of shipboard life. And increasingly, these bacteria are resistant to the antibiotics we’ve relied on for decades.
Four bacterial villains are the focus: Acinetobacter baumannii (nicknamed “Iraqibacter” from the early Iraq war days), Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. All can cause fevers, fatigue, swelling—and in severe cases, death.
When a sailor or Marine is fighting a multidrug-resistant infection, they’re not mission-ready. They’re not protecting their shipmates. They’re fighting for their life.
The Navy’s Secret Weapon: Bacteriophages
Navy Medicine Research & Development has a solution that sounds like science fiction but is brilliantly simple: use viruses that naturally hunt and kill bacteria.
Bacteriophages—or phages—are viruses that target specific bacteria with surgical precision. Unlike antibiotics that carpet-bomb your body’s bacterial ecosystem (killing both good and bad bacteria), phages are smart weapons. They go after only the harmful bacteria you want eliminated.
Over six years of focused research funded by Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDRMP), NMRC has developed approximately 2,500 phage cocktails. Think of these as personalized medicine—specific combinations designed to attack specific bacterial threats.
From Wastewater to Warfighter
The collection process is global and fascinating. Navy researchers harvest phages from wastewater—bogs, sewers, rivers—across multiple continents. These microscopic hunters are everywhere. In fact, if you strung together all the phages on Earth, they could wrap around the Milky Way Galaxy three times.
Each collected phage goes through rigorous purification and characterization. As Dr. Biswajit Biswas, chief of NMRC’s Bacteriophage Science Division, explains: “We collect these phages, purify them and grow them in large quantities. Then, we extract DNA, sequence its genome and analyze the phage very carefully to understand if it carries any toxins, since we cannot push something in the human systems if the phage carries toxins.”
This is meticulous work. This is Navy excellence.
Proof of Concept: The Tom Patterson Story
In 2015, NMRC achieved something historic. Dr. Tom Patterson fell critically ill from Acinetobacter baumannii, slipped into a coma, and remained ill through multiple treatments. Nothing worked. Until he was administered an NMRC-developed phage cocktail intravenously.
He survived.
As Dr. Biswas notes: “It should be understood that before Tom Patterson’s case, nobody used phage to treat systemic bacterial infection in the United States.”
NMRC didn’t just save a life. They opened a door.
Why This Matters for Naval Readiness
Commander Mark Simons, director of NMRC’s Infectious Diseases Directorate, gets straight to the point: “Navy and Marine Corps warfighters are often first to the fight as expeditionary units, and thus will experience early casualties in a potentially prolonged-care setting. This will require novel antimicrobial countermeasures to be used early and throughout the continuum of care to treat antibiotic-resistant infections which are rising globally and highly prevalent in developing countries and high-conflict regions.”
Read that again. First to the fight.Early casualties.Prolonged-care settings.
When we deploy our carriers to the Indo-Pacific, when we send Marines into contested environments, when we operate in regions where medical evacuation isn’t guaranteed—our people need every medical advantage we can give them.
A sailor fighting a superbug infection can’t stand watch. A Marine with a resistant wound infection can’t complete the mission. Medical readiness is operational readiness.
Joint Innovation at Its Best
This research demonstrates something we don’t celebrate enough: when Navy Medicine and Army Medicine researchers work together with focused priorities, incredible things happen. NMRC collaborated seamlessly with Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
WRAIR’s Forward Labs collected phages in Thailand, Kenya, and Georgia. Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) SOUTH provided phage isolates from South America. This global network, coordinated across services, created a phage library that will serve warfighters for years to come.
This is how you build combat advantage.
Next Mission: FDA Approval
NMRC’s next objective is clear: Investigational New Drug applications with the FDA to move the most promising cocktails into phase one safety and immune response studies.
“Navy Medicine R&D is a leader in bacteriophage research so that we can bring this promising technology to clinicians and corpsman to improve battlefield survival for Sailors and Marines,” Commander Simons states.
That’s the goal. Not publications. Not academic prestige. Battlefield survival..
The Bigger Picture
We talk often about the “hollow Navy” of the 1970s—rusting ships, deferred maintenance, degraded readiness. But readiness isn’t just hull numbers and operating budgets. It’s whether our people can fight and survive when called upon.
This bacteriophage research represents the same commitment to readiness that we demand in ship maintenance, training, and logistics. It’s the Navy refusing to accept that warfighters should die from infections we could prevent or treat.
It’s innovation driven by mission necessity.
It’s medical capability that directly enables combat power.
It’s the kind of work that happens when national will, proper funding, and talented professionals align toward a clear objective: keeping our sailors and Marines ready, healthy, and lethal.
What This Teaches Us
For 250 years, Navy Medicine has delivered healthcare to warfighters “on, below, and above the sea and ashore.” This bacteriophage research continues that legacy with 21st-century tools.
But it also demonstrates something broader about naval strength: readiness is a system. Every piece matters. From hull coatings that prevent rust to phage cocktails that prevent death from resistant bacteria, it all connects.
When we advocate for a stronger Navy, we’re advocating for all of it. The ships, yes. But also the medicine, the logistics, the training, the innovation, the global partnerships that make American naval power possible.
NMRC and its partner commands have shown what’s possible when the mission is clear and the resources are provided. They’ve built a library of 2,500 phage cocktails, established processes that could save countless lives, and positioned the U.S. military to lead in a crucial medical technology.
That’s not just good science. That’s good strategy.
That’s a stronger Navy.
FREDERICK, Md. (April 11, 2025) Researchers with Biological Defense Research Directorate (BDRD), pose for a group photo after conducting bacteriophage therapy research to combat multidrug resistant bacteria that could impact warfighter readiness. Phages are viruses that target and kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Navy Medicine Research & Development (NMR&D) is engaged in bacteriophage therapy research to protect the warfighter from these threats, keeping U.S. forces ready and lethal. NMRC, headquarters of NMR&D, is engaged in a broad spectrum of activity from basic science in the laboratory to field studies in austere and remote areas of the world to investigations in operational environments. In support of Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health, readiness and lethality, researchers study infectious diseases, biological warfare detection and defense, combat casualty care, environmental health concerns, aerospace and undersea medicine, operational mission support and epidemiology. For 250 years, Navy Medicine, represented by more than 44,000 highly-trained military and civilian healthcare professionals, has delivered quality healthcare and enduring expeditionary medical support to the warfighter on, below, and above the sea and ashore.
Americans for a Stronger Navy advocates for the transparent reporting, proper resourcing, and strategic innovation necessary to maintain U.S. naval superiority. Medical readiness is operational readiness. Support the sailors and Marines who stand the watch.
USS Zumwalt has returned to sea after one of the most radical ship conversions in modern naval history. Its guns are gone. In their place: the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic weapon system. On the surface, this looks like a story about cutting-edge weapons and futuristic warfare. But the deeper story is about something far more important for Americans to understand: how naval power is evolving from platforms to systems—and how design decisions, industrial capacity, and national alignment determine whether innovation becomes usable combat power.
This is not just a story about a destroyer. It is a story about whether the United States can adapt fast enough to a changing era of warfare.
What Actually Happened
After entering the yard in 2023, Zumwalt was taken out of the water, structurally modified on land, stripped of its twin 155mm Advanced Gun Systems, and rebuilt to host large-diameter launch infrastructure for hypersonic missiles. Builder’s sea trials in January 2026 validated propulsion, power generation, hull integrity, and ship systems after this extraordinary redesign.
This was not a maintenance period. This was a repurposing of a warship’s entire combat identity.
The Navy took a class originally built for precision naval gunfire support and turned it into the first surface ship designed to deliver hypersonic strike.
That decision tells us a lot.
Why This Matters Beyond the Headlines
Hypersonic weapons are impressive. Speeds above Mach 5. Maneuverability. Minimal warning time. Ability to penetrate advanced defenses.
But the more important question is this:
What does it take to put a weapon like this to sea?
The answer is uncomfortable.
It required removing the original mission. It required structural redesign. It required years in the yard. It required extraordinary industrial effort. It required a ship with unusual power capacity and internal space.
In other words:
You can’t just bolt hypersonics onto any ship.
You need design margin. You need electrical power. You need internal volume. You need shipyards capable of radical modification. You need a Navy and an industrial base that can adapt.
That is the real story.
A Ship as a System, Not a Platform
For years, Americans have been taught to think of naval strength as “how many ships we have.”
Zumwalt shows the flaw in that thinking.
Naval power is not a hull count. It is whether your ships can evolve when the fight changes.
This ship was able to change because of how it was originally designed:
Integrated electric propulsion
Excess power generation
Internal growth space
Signature management for survivability
Most of our fleet does not have that kind of design margin.
And that is where this story becomes national.
The Hidden Constraint No One Talks About
Hypersonic missiles are huge.
The launchers are huge.
Magazine depth is limited.
This is not a “volume of fire” weapon. It is a high-impact, precision, strategic signaling weapon.
Which means the value of Zumwalt is not how many missiles it carries.
The value is what it does to an adversary’s planning.
A mobile, hard-to-target, forward-deployed ship that can strike time-sensitive targets with almost no warning from unpredictable sea locations forces an adversary to defend everything.
That is naval maneuver used as a weapon.
And that is a concept most Americans have never been taught.
What Others Will Focus On
Many analysts will talk about:
The cost of the Zumwalt program
The failure of the original gun system
Whether hypersonics belong at sea
Magazine limitations
Strategic signaling risks
All valid discussions.
But they miss the bigger lesson.
The question is not whether Zumwalt was worth it.
The question is whether we are designing today’s ships so they can adapt tomorrow.
Because wars between major powers are not decided by what we start with.
They are decided by what we can modify, replace, and evolve after the fighting begins.
Why Americans Should Care
This story is about far more than a destroyer.
It is about:
Shipyard capacity
Industrial skill
Design philosophy
Electrical power margins in ships
Flexibility in fleet architecture
The ability to change missions without building a new class of ship
That is national strength.
That is governance.
That is whether budgets, priorities, and industry are aligned with the realities of modern warfare.
Most Americans think innovation happens in labs.
Zumwalt shows that innovation must be built into the steel of ships years before it is needed.
Implications for the Navy
The Navy now has proof that:
Large-scale mission conversion is possible
Integrated electric ships have enormous future value
Hypersonic strike can be distributed across surface platforms
Ship design margin is not a luxury—it is a warfighting requirement
The remaining two Zumwalts will follow.
But the real question is whether future ship classes are being designed with this lesson in mind.
Implications for Our Allies
Allies watching this are learning something important:
The U.S. Navy is not just adding new weapons.
It is learning how to adapt existing platforms into new roles.
That flexibility is a form of deterrence.
Because it signals that the fleet they see today is not the fleet they will face tomorrow.
The Governance Lesson Hiding in Plain Sight
This did not happen because of a single weapon.
This happened because: National will → budgets Budgets → priorities Priorities → ship design Ship design → adaptability Adaptability → readiness
That chain is what turns technology into combat power.
Break that chain anywhere, and innovation stays on paper.
The Bigger Takeaway
USS Zumwalt is no longer a story about a controversial ship.
It is now a case study in how naval power must be built for change.
And that is a lesson Americans need to understand if we want a Navy that can fight—and adapt—in the decades ahead.
Because the future of naval warfare will not be decided by what ships were built to do.
It will be decided by what they can become.
That’s why we launched Charting the Course: Voices That Matter — a 24-part educational series breaking down how we got here, what went wrong, and what must happen next. Our goal is simple: educate the public, connect the dots, and build the support needed to close the readiness gap before it’s too late.
As the founder of Americans for a Stronger Navy, my mission is to advocate for the naval power our nation needs to secure its interests, project influence, and deter aggression in an increasingly complex world. For too long, discussions about naval strength have focused almost exclusively on traditional, crewed warships. While these mighty vessels remain the backbone of our fleet, a silent revolution is underway—one that promises to redefine naval warfare as we know it.
More Than Just Boats: The Brains Behind the Brawn
What makes these vessels so transformative isn’t just their ability to operate without a crew, but the sophisticated artificial intelligence that empowers them. Both the Sea Hunter and Seahawk were designed and built by Leidos, and they are powered by an advanced software ecosystem called LAVA (Leidos Autonomous Vessel Architecture).
Self-Correction & Resilience: If a system fails or damage occurs, LAVA can reconfigure its mission in real-time. It’s like having a captain who can rewrite the playbook mid-battle without human intervention.
Intelligent Navigation: LAVA constantly processes data from radar, lidar, AIS, and cameras to execute collision avoidance maneuvers in full compliance with international “Rules of the Road” (COLREGS).
Modular Versatility: The same “brain” can be installed across a wide range of vessels, from high-speed interceptors to specialized sub-hunters.
A Fleet of Ghost Ships: The Strategic Advantages
Persistence & Endurance: Without a crew, these ships can operate for extended periods without the need for rotation or resupply.
Reduced Risk to Personnel: Deploying unmanned vessels for dangerous missions like anti-submarine warfare (ASW) preserves our most valuable asset: our sailors.
Cost-Effectiveness: Long-term operational costs are significantly lower than traditional warships, offering an affordable way to expand global presence.
Scalability & Swarming: LAVA enables “swarms” of USVs to coordinate and search vast ocean areas for threats simultaneously.
Looking Ahead: The Future is Unmanned
The US Navy’s commitment is clear. With an expansion from just four small USVs to hundreds projected within a single year, the shift is undeniable. The Seahawk and Sea Hunter have already logged over 140,000 autonomous nautical miles—more than five times the Earth’s circumference.
For Americans for a Stronger Navy, this represents a crucial step forward. Investing in these innovative, autonomous systems ensures that our Navy remains at the forefront of global naval power, ready to face the challenges of tomorrow’s maritime domain with unparalleled strength.
Join the Mission for a Modern Fleet
The transition to an autonomous-integrated fleet is a generational shift that requires steady advocacy and public support. At Americans for a Stronger Navy, we are dedicated to ensuring our sailors have the most advanced technology on the planet to keep our seas free and our nation secure.
Support our efforts today:
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A major announcement this week marks a breakthrough in naval innovation. Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based defense startup, confirmed on November 5 that it has successfully tested its long-range autonomous ship technology on the waters off Massachusetts — a first for U.S. industry.
The company shared new images and data from sea trials, demonstrating that its medium-sized drone warship systems can operate reliably in open-ocean conditions, a critical milestone as the Navy looks to expand its reach in the Pacific. A full-scale 150-foot prototype is planned for 2026, advancing the goal of deploying uncrewed ships capable of long-range operations alongside traditional fleets.
Why It Matters
China’s shipyards continue to outproduce America’s by wide margins, while U.S. shipbuilding struggles with delays, labor shortages, and cost overruns. Blue Water Autonomy’s success offers a glimpse of what’s possible when innovation meets urgency. These modular vessels are designed to carry sensors, radars, and missile payloads across more than 6,000 nautical miles, from California to Taiwan and back — a range that redefines how the U.S. could project power across the Indo-Pacific.
Implications for the Navy
The Navy’s future battle force calls for 381 crewed ships and 134 uncrewed vessels, but reaching those numbers requires new approaches. By designing ships that can be mass-produced quickly at smaller shipyards, Blue Water Autonomy’s model could help offset the strain on America’s overstretched industrial base. With a Navy contract already in hand and potential full-scale production in Louisiana shipyards next year, the company’s success represents a tangible step toward restoring U.S. maritime advantage through technology and industrial reform.
Why Americans Should Care
Every advancement in autonomy brings the same truth into sharper focus: deterrence is cheaper than war. Building smarter, more flexible fleets keeps sailors safe, strengthens deterrence, and ensures America remains a global maritime leader. Blue Water Autonomy’s announcement isn’t just about a new vessel — it’s about rebuilding the capacity and confidence of a nation that must once again lead at sea.
That’s why we launched Charting the Course: Voices That Matter — a 24-part educational series breaking down how we got here, what went wrong, and what must happen next. Our goal is simple: educate the public, connect the dots, and build the support needed to close the readiness gap before it’s too late.
by Bill Cullifer, founder Americans for a Stronger Navy
As America marks the Navy’s 250th birthday, Captain Brent Sadler, USN (Ret.) recent essay reminds us this milestone is not just a moment to celebrate—it’s a call to action. From two ships in 1775 to the world’s most powerful fleet, the Navy has carried our flag, defended our freedom, and guarded the arteries of global commerce. But as Sadler rightly warns, the next few years will not be smooth sailing.
A Fleet Stretched Thin
Today, over a third of our fleet is more than 20 years old. Shipbuilding delays and maintenance backlogs are pushing the limits of readiness. Our sailors, the heart of the fleet, continue to perform with unmatched skill and resolve—but they are doing so aboard aging platforms. China is fast closing the gap, and they are not waiting for us.
Lessons Written in Blood
History teaches that there are no cheap shortcuts to sea power. Survivability and lethality come from hard-earned experience, superior training, and a robust industrial base. Sadler recalls the typhoon of 1944 that claimed three destroyers and hundreds of lives—a stark reminder that nature and conflict alike punish complacency. Competence, leadership, and technical mastery remain our sailors’ greatest weapons.
For the Skeptics: China’s Long Game Is Already Underway
To those who still doubt that China poses more than a distant “threat,” here is a sharper look at how Beijing is already laying the foundations of a rival maritime order—and why ignoring it is perilous.
“Unrestricted Warfare” and Strategic Pluralism
Chinese strategists have long argued that war is no longer limited to the battlefield. Unrestricted Warfare (1999) openly promoted using economic, cyber, legal, and informational tools to weaken stronger powers—a doctrine now reflected in Beijing’s global behavior.
Dual-Use Shipbuilding and External Support
China’s commercial and naval shipyards work side-by-side, leveraging subsidies and state control to produce more hulls than the rest of the world combined. These facilities give Beijing the ability to surge production during crisis—something the U.S. industrial base cannot yet match.
The “Great Underwater Wall” and Maritime Surveillance
Beijing is constructing a vast undersea sensor network across the South China Sea—an integrated web of hydrophones, drones, and seabed nodes designed to detect U.S. and allied submarines. It’s surveillance on a scale the world has never seen.
“Cabbage” Tactics and Incremental Control
China surrounds disputed islands layer by layer—fishing boats, coast-guard cutters, and finally warships—gradually converting “gray zones” into permanent possessions without firing a shot.
The “String of Pearls” Strategy
Ports and logistics hubs from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic give China reach far beyond its shores. Each node tightens its grip over the world’s vital maritime choke points.
Global Projection and Signaling
China’s navy now sails the Tasman Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and beyond—exercising in waters where it once had no business. These deployments make one thing clear: China’s maritime ambitions are global, not regional.
Don’t Take My Word For It — Listen to the Experts
Over the past 24 months, Americans for a Stronger Navy has been mapping a story few citizens have ever been shown: how China’s campaign against the United States unfolded, who knew what and when, and what it will take to pull back from the brink. We didn’t start with opinions—we started with evidence. Here’s what the experts have been saying for years, and how their warnings fit together.
Strategic Intent and Military Buildup
Admiral James Lyons Jr., former commander of the Pacific Fleet, said what few in Washington wanted to hear as early as 2013: “We’re in our second Cold War with another communist totalitarian regime.” He warned that China has “built the navy specifically to go against the United States Navy” and that their anti-ship ballistic missiles are “not geared to go against the Bangladesh navy.” When a fleet commander speaks that bluntly on national television, that’s not politics—that’s professional judgment.
Brigadier General Douglas P. Wickert has shown how far that judgment has proven correct. In the Gobi Desert, China has built full-scale mock-ups of Taiwan’s Taichung International Airport and a “one-for-one silhouette of the Ford-class aircraft carrier” for target practice. They are not hiding their intentions. They are practicing to sink our ships and invade our allies.
The scale of China’s buildup is staggering. As Sadler and others have documented: “They have 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the United States in terms of shipyard infrastructure and potential output. Just one shipyard in China last year alone, in 2024, built more tonnage of ships than the U.S. did since the end of World War II.” One shipyard outproduced our entire nation’s post-WWII shipbuilding in a single year. That’s not competition—that’s a wake-up call.
A Time for Revival
The path forward demands both vision and accountability. We need new ships—but also a paradigm shift in how America thinks about sea power, alliance networks, and industrial mobilization. Unmanned systems, resilient architectures, and faster acquisition must be part of the solution. So must shipyard revitalization, recruitment, and public understanding.
Why Americans Should Care
A strong Navy isn’t about seeking conflict—it’s about preventing it. The sea connects our economy, allies, and security. Every container safely delivered, every undersea cable protected, every freedom-of-navigation operation maintained depends on a Navy that’s ready, credible, and resilient. The choices we make now will determine whether we can deter China in 2027 and beyond—or whether others will write the next chapter of maritime history for us.
Charting the Next 250 Years
As we honor our Navy’s proud history, we must also rally around its future. That means bringing Americans into the conversation—not just policymakers and admirals, but citizens, veterans, and industry alike. Our sailors deserve ships that match their courage and leaders who match their commitment.
Sadler’s message is clear: vigilance and strength are the surest remedies against any adversary’s ambitions.
That’s why we launched Charting the Course: Voices That Matter—a 24-part educational series breaking down how we got here, what went wrong, and what must happen next. Our goal is simple: educate the public, connect the dots, and build the support needed to close the readiness gap before it’s too late. Let’s roll.
The U.S. Navy has quietly achieved a significant milestone in maritime defense with the operational deployment of cutting-edge counter-drone systems aboard the USS Bainbridge. Recent photographs taken on July 27, 2025, during NATO’s Neptune Strike exercise in the Ionian Sea, show the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer equipped with new Raytheon Coyote interceptor launchers—marking the first confirmed installation of these advanced systems on a U.S. Navy destroyer.
A Strategic Response to Evolving Threats
This development represents more than just a technological upgrade; it’s a direct response to the changing nature of maritime warfare. The Navy’s decision to equip destroyers with Coyote and Anduril Roadrunner-M counter-drone systems stems from harsh lessons learned in recent conflicts, particularly the Red Sea operations against Houthi drone attacks.
The cost-effectiveness issue has been stark: Navy ships were using multimillion-dollar Standard Missiles to intercept drones costing mere thousands of dollars. As one defense analyst noted, this created an unsustainable economic equation that threatened to drain naval missile magazines against relatively inexpensive threats.
Technical Capabilities and Advantages
The Coyote system brings several key advantages to naval defense:
Loitering Capability: Unlike traditional missiles that follow a direct intercept path, Coyote interceptors can loiter in designated areas, providing persistent coverage and the ability to engage multiple threats dynamically.
Cost-Effective Defense: Each Coyote interceptor costs significantly less than traditional surface-to-air missiles, making them ideal for countering low-cost drone swarms.
Flexible Deployment: The system’s ability to be launched from standard sonobuoy canisters provides installation flexibility across various naval platforms.
The companion Roadrunner-M system offers additional capabilities, including the revolutionary ability to return to base for reuse if not deployed against a target—a feature that further improves cost-effectiveness.
Operational Context and Deployment
The USS Bainbridge is one of three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers currently assigned to the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, alongside the USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Mitscher. This strike group represents a testing ground for these new defensive capabilities, with the Churchill serving as the air defense commander—a role increasingly important as the Navy’s aging Ticonderoga-class cruisers are phased out.
The timing of this deployment is significant. The photograph was taken during a helicopter, board, search, and seizure drill as part of NATO exercises, demonstrating that these systems are being tested in realistic, multilateral maritime scenarios.
Broader Strategic Implications
This development signals several important shifts in U.S. naval strategy:
Magazine Depth Enhancement: These systems provide destroyers with additional interceptor capacity without consuming precious missile magazine space reserved for larger threats.
Scalable Defense Architecture: The ability to deploy both expendable (Coyote) and reusable (Roadrunner) interceptors provides commanders with flexible response options based on threat assessment.
Rapid Fielding Priority: The Navy’s decision to rush these systems to operational deployment indicates the urgency with which they view the drone threat
Technology Partners and Innovation
The partnership between established defense contractors and newer companies is noteworthy. While Raytheon provides the proven Coyote platform with its track record in hurricane research and military applications, Anduril Industries brings innovation with the Roadrunner series, representing a new generation of autonomous air defense systems.
Anduril’s Roadrunner platform introduces concepts like vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability and high-G maneuverability, features that could revolutionize ship-based air defense by enabling interceptors to engage threats from multiple vectors.
Looking Forward
The USS Bainbridge installation represents just the beginning of what appears to be a broader transformation of naval air defense. With the Army already planning to purchase thousands of Coyote interceptors and the Navy moving to equip multiple destroyer platforms, we’re witnessing the emergence of a new defensive paradigm.
This evolution reflects the reality of modern naval warfare, where traditional high-end threats coexist with asymmetric challenges from inexpensive but numerous drone platforms. The success of these systems in operational deployment will likely influence similar adaptations across allied navies facing comparable threats.
As maritime operations continue to evolve, the integration of these counter-drone systems aboard frontline destroyers like the Bainbridge marks a critical adaptation—one that balances technological sophistication with economic sustainability in an era of emerging threats.
Illustration of the AIRCAT Bengal MC, the world’s most advanced autonomous naval vessel.
Introduction
The recent unveiling of the AIRCAT Bengal MC marks one of the most significant leaps in naval technology in recent years. Developed by Eureka Naval Craft in collaboration with Greenroom Robotics and ESNA Naval Architects, this 36-meter Surface Effect Ship (SES) blends cutting-edge speed, payload capacity, modularity, and autonomous operation. Capable of operating both crewed and uncrewed, the Bengal MC is designed to execute a wide range of missions—from launching Tomahawk cruise missiles to serving as a drone mothership—at a fraction of the cost of traditional warships. For a Navy seeking to maximize agility and lethality while controlling costs, the Bengal MC may represent a new model for maritime dominance.
Advanced Design and Capabilities
At the heart of the Bengal MC’s innovation is its SES hull, a hybrid between a hovercraft and a catamaran, which reduces drag and allows speeds exceeding 50 knots. It can carry up to 44 tons—enough for two 40-foot ISO modules—while maintaining a 1,000 nautical-mile operational range. This enables deployment to distant theaters without frequent refueling.
Mission versatility is a hallmark of the Bengal MC. Configurable for troop transport, landing support, electronic warfare, mine-laying or counter-mine operations, reconnaissance, and high-speed logistics, its modular construction allows the ship to be tailored for the task at hand. It’s equipped to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles and Naval Strike Missiles, providing a level of firepower that traditionally required much larger, more expensive ships.
Autonomy and Operational Flexibility
Powered by Greenroom Robotics’ Advanced Maritime Autonomy Software (GAMA), the Bengal MC is fully capable of autonomous operation, while still offering human-in-the-loop oversight. This system was validated through the Patrol Boat Autonomy Trial, ensuring reliability in complex maritime environments. Its ability to operate autonomously means it can be deployed into high-risk zones without putting sailors directly in harm’s way, while crewed missions remain an option for complex operations.
Efficiency and Strategic Value
The Bengal MC is also designed for fuel efficiency and reduced operating costs, making it an attractive option for navies needing maximum capability per dollar spent. Its ability to replace or augment larger surface combatants with smaller, faster, more adaptable ships could reshape the way the U.S. Navy and allied forces plan their fleets. This is particularly critical in the Indo-Pacific, where speed, reach, and survivability are vital.
Why Americans Should The Bengal MC
represents a shift toward a leaner, faster, more lethal Navy—one that can respond quickly to threats without waiting for a carrier strike group to arrive. In an era where peer adversaries like China are rapidly expanding and modernizing their fleets, the U.S. must adopt innovative solutions to maintain maritime dominance. This is about more than ships; it’s about safeguarding trade routes, deterring aggression, and ensuring that America retains freedom of movement on the seas.
Implications for the Navy
For the U.S. Navy, the Bengal MC offers an opportunity to expand distributed maritime operations with high-speed, missile-capable platforms that are less expensive to build and operate. The autonomy package reduces crew demands, freeing personnel for other critical missions. In contested environments, these vessels can serve as fast-moving strike platforms, reconnaissance nodes, or logistic links—roles that support and extend the reach of larger fleet assets.
Implications for Our Allies
For U.S. allies in AUKUS, NATO, and key Indo-Pacific partnerships, the Bengal MC offers an interoperable, high-performance platform that can be rapidly integrated into joint operations. Nations like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines—facing their own maritime security challenges—could use this vessel to augment their fleets without the heavy investment required for traditional destroyers or frigates. Greater allied adoption would strengthen collective maritime defense and create a shared technological advantage over adversaries.
Conclusion
The AIRCAT Bengal MC is more than a new ship—it’s a potential blueprint for the future of naval warfare. Fast, flexible, and autonomous, it demonstrates how advanced engineering and smart design can produce a strategic asset that meets the demands of modern maritime security. If the U.S. and its allies choose to embrace this model, it could mark a turning point in the race for naval superiority in the 21st century.
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The future isn’t coming—it’s already here, patrolling our oceans with no human hands on the wheel.
Personal Reflection
Bill Cullifer, onboard USS Henry B. Wilson -DDG 7 1976
Bill Cullifer, Founder
As someone who stood watch on a destroyer’s deck for years, I’d love nothing more than for every young American to feel the salt air, a wooden helm at their fingertips, the roll of the ship beneath their feet and the breathtaking vastness of the sea. That experience shaped my life and the life of many others that I respect and admire.
But sentiment won’t secure the future. The world has changed—and it’s time we face some hard facts.
We’re now witnessing the dawn of a radically new era in warfare. One that demands we embrace and invest in the technologies that will define the next generation of naval power.
From Science Fiction to Sea Trials
Less than a decade ago, the idea of fully autonomous warships seemed like the stuff of sci-fi. Today, the U.S. Navy’s USX-1 Defiant—a 180-foot, 240-ton vessel designed without a single human accommodation—is conducting sea trials off Washington state.
No bunks. No heads. No mess halls. Just a steel-clad, AI-powered war machine optimized purely for mission.
This isn’t incremental change. It’s an exponential leap.
The Compound Effect of Convergent Technologies
What’s driving this revolution isn’t just a single breakthrough. It’s convergence.
AI Decision-Making at Machine Speed
Ships like USS Ranger and Mariner aren’t just autonomous—they’re operational. They’ve logged thousands of miles, fired missiles, and executed missions without direct human control. Real-time, tactical adaptation is already replacing human-triggered decision trees.
Swarm Coordination Beyond Human Capability
With programs like Ghost Fleet Overlord, we’re moving toward fully integrated autonomous networks—surface, subsurface, aerial. Swarms of unmanned systems coordinating at machine speed, executing joint missions across domains.
New Physical Designs, New Possibilities
When you remove the human factor, new design freedom emerges. The NOMARS program optimizes for function over form—rapid payload reconfiguration, longer endurance, fewer constraints. Defiant doesn’t compromise. It adapts.
The Multiplication Factor
Each of these capabilities amplifies the others:
AI enables swarm tactics
Swarms generate operational data
That data trains the next-gen AI
Which enables even more sophisticated missions
The cycle is accelerating. Consider DARPA’s Manta Ray, an autonomous glider designed to “hibernate” on the seabed for months. Now picture that working in tandem with unmanned surface vessels like Defiant, and traditional submarines—all coordinating without a single sailor onboard.
The MASC Paradigm: Speed Over Paperwork
The Navy’s new Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) program exemplifies this exponential thinking. Instead of designing ships around specific missions, MASC creates standardized platforms that gain capabilities through containerized payloads—like naval smartphones that become powerful through modular “apps.”
With an aggressive 18-month delivery timeline and emphasis on commercial standards over “exquisite” platforms, MASC represents a fundamental shift in how the Navy acquires capability. As Austin Gray, Navy Reserve Intelligence Officer & Co-founder/CSO, Blue Water Autonomy observed: “The way Navy is approaching MASC—procuring fast, iteratively, and with focus on speed over paperwork—should offer us hope that the future of U.S. seapower is not so dim.”
This isn’t just about new ships—it’s about new thinking. MASC vessels can be missile shooters one day, submarine hunters the next, simply by swapping standardized containers. The high-capacity variant could carry 64 missiles—more firepower than many destroyers, at a fraction of the cost.
Beyond the Horizon
In 2016, Sea Hunter launched with basic navigation. By 2021, converted vessels were firing missiles. In 2025, purpose-built unmanned warships are conducting sea trials. By 2026, MASC prototypes will be delivered for fleet operations.
What’s next?
The Pentagon is backing this future with a $179 billion R&D investment focused on AI, drone swarms, and autonomous systems. The revolution isn’t limited to ships—it extends to autonomous aircraft, land vehicles, and space-based platforms.
The Inflection Point
This may be the most transformative shift in warfare since the atomic age.
But unlike nuclear weapons, which stagnated under treaties and deterrence doctrines, autonomous systems evolve constantly—learning, adapting, improving. The next five years will likely deliver breakthroughs we can’t yet fully comprehend.
We’re not just upgrading platforms. We’re creating entire ecosystems of autonomous coordination that outpace human decision-making and redefine how wars are fought—and deterred.
Welcome to U.S. Navy 3.0—a new era defined not by bigger ships, but by smarter ones.
We’ve discussed this evolution before: Navy 1.0 was sail and steel; Navy 2.0 brought nuclear power and carrier dominance. Navy 3.0 marks a transformational leap driven by artificial intelligence, autonomy, and multi-domain integration. It’s not just about replacing crewed vessels with unmanned ones—it’s about rethinking naval power from the keel up. From swarming tactics to predictive logistics and machine-speed decision-making, Navy 3.0 is our opportunity to regain the edge in a world where adversaries are building faster, cheaper, and without rules.
The Legacy Challenge
This transformation faces significant resistance. Naval culture, built around centuries of seamanship and command tradition, doesn’t easily embrace unmanned systems. The defense industrial base, optimized for billion-dollar platforms with decades-long production cycles, struggles with MASC’s 18-month timelines and commercial standards.
But operational necessity is forcing evolution. When China builds ships faster than we can afford traditional platforms, alternatives become imperatives. The question isn’t whether to change—it’s whether we can change fast enough.
The Future Is Now
This isn’t a concept. It’s not theory. It’s happening:
Autonomous vessels are already patrolling the Pacific
Underwater gliders are proving months-long endurance
Unmanned surface warships are rewriting the rules of naval architecture
Containerized missile systems are operational
MASC solicitations are active with near-term delivery requirements
The revolution is not ahead of us. It’s around us.
And we’ve only just left the pier.
Why Americans Should Care
Autonomous warfare isn’t just a military story—it’s a national security imperative. Adversaries like China are racing to seize the advantage in unmanned systems. Falling behind means more than losing battles—it risks losing deterrence, freedom of navigation, and geopolitical influence.
The economic implications are equally significant. Navy 3.0’s emphasis on commercial standards and distributed production could revitalize American shipbuilding, creating jobs while strengthening national security.
Implications for the Navy
To remain dominant, the U.S. Navy must rethink everything: shipbuilding timelines, training paradigms, procurement processes, and alliances. Naval power in this new era will favor speed, adaptability, and distributed lethality.
Officer career paths built around commanding ships must evolve to managing autonomous swarms. Training programs must balance traditional seamanship with algorithmic warfare. Most critically, the Navy must maintain its warrior ethos while embracing radical technological change.
A Final Word
Let’s not confuse nostalgia with readiness. The romance of the sea will always have a place in our hearts—but it won’t protect our shores.
The wooden helm and salt air that shaped naval officers for generations remain valuable experiences. But future naval leaders will find meaning in different challenges: commanding autonomous fleets, coordinating multi-domain operations, and outthinking adversaries at machine speed.
If we want peace, we must master this new domain.
It’s time to embrace it. It’s time to invest. It’s time to lead.
That’s why we launched Charting the Course: Voices That Matter—a 24-part educational series breaking down how we got here, what went wrong, and what must happen next. Our goal is simple: educate the public, connect the dots, and build the support needed to close the readiness gap before it’s too late.
If you’ve been following along, you know we’ve been sounding the alarm for some time now—raising concerns not out of fear, but out of duty. At Americans for a Stronger Navy, we don’t profit from defense contracts or feed the industrial complex. We’re here because the facts are in: the Navy is falling short of the readiness our nation demands—and we must do better.
The U.S. Navy is aiming for 80% surge readiness by 2027—but it’s stuck at 60%. That 20% gap could determine whether America deters conflict—or invites one.
Brent Sadler, Senior Fellow for Naval Warfare and Advanced Technology at The Heritage Foundation and author of U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century: A New Strategy for Facing the Chinese and Russian Threat, put it bluntly:
“It won’t happen until more ships enter the fleet to drive operational tempo down to 30%.”
Top Navy leaders have echoed this urgency. As one Navy official said plainly:
“We must increase our fleet readiness to 80% by 2027 to meet global security demands and deter peer-level threats.”
That’s the heart of the problem—and a major reason we’re sounding the alarm.
From the Indo-Pacific to the U.S. Southern border, the Navy is being stretched dangerously thin. The ships we have are aging, overworked, and under-maintained. Meanwhile, new construction is lagging—leaving sailors to shoulder an impossible burden, and the nation exposed.
At Americans for a Stronger Navy, we don’t advocate fear—we advocate responsibility. We believe war is preventable, but only if America wakes up and acts.
That’s why we launched Charting the Course: Voices That Matter—a 24-part educational series breaking down how we got here, what went wrong, and what must happen next. Our goal is simple: educate the public, connect the dots, and build the support needed to close the readiness gap before it’s too late.
Let’s move beyond slogans. Let’s build understanding, accountability, and strength—before the next crisis comes knocking.
