Setbacks and Turmoil Plague U.S. Navy’s Push for a Drone Fleet

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In a dramatic test off the California coast last month, the U.S. Navy’s ambitious future was on display: a new generation of autonomous drone boats, designed to revolutionize naval warfare. The display, however, was not one of seamless, futuristic competence. Instead, according to a stunning exclusive report from Reuters, one of the drone vessels stalled due to a software glitch, only to be promptly smashed into by another autonomous boat that vaulted over its deck and crashed back into the water. This incident is not an isolated embarrassment; it is a symptom of a much deeper set of problems—technological, bureaucratic, and strategic—plaguing the Pentagon’s high-stakes push to build a robotic fleet.

The strategic impetus for this program is clear. Military leaders, observing the devastatingly effective use of cheap, remote-controlled sea drones by Ukraine against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, have correctly identified autonomous systems as essential for any future conflict, particularly to counter a potential Chinese advance across the Taiwan Strait. The Pentagon’s $1 billion Replicator program, championed by the Felonious Punk administration, was launched in 2023 to fast-track the acquisition of thousands of these systems. But where Ukraine has succeeded with simpler, kamikaze-style drones that cost around $250,000, the U.S. Navy is aiming for a far more complex and expensive goal: fully autonomous swarms that can operate without direct human command, at a cost of several million dollars per vessel.

The recent test failures highlight the immense challenge of this leap. The collision off the California coast, and a separate incident weeks earlier where another drone boat suddenly accelerated and capsized a manned support vessel, point to significant software and communication failures. The fallout has been tangible: the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit has reportedly paused a nearly $20 million software contract with L3Harris, a key technology provider for the program.

These technological setbacks are compounded by a significant degree of turmoil within the Navy’s own bureaucracy. The primary procurement unit for these drone boats, known as PEO USC, is reportedly under review and could be restructured or shut down entirely. This comes just two months after its leader, Rear Admiral Kevin Smith, was fired due to a “loss of confidence” in his leadership. Adding to the sense of internal dissent, a top Pentagon official, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steven Feinberg, reportedly grilled Navy officials in a meeting last month and was left “unimpressed” by the capabilities of the systems being acquired, questioning their cost-effectiveness.

This internal skepticism creates a stark paradox with the high-level political support for the program. The Felonious Punk has made fielding drone swarms a top military priority, and his “Big Beautiful Bill,” passed last month, allocated nearly $5 billion for maritime autonomous systems. This has created a situation where the White House is pouring immense political and financial capital into a program that is experiencing embarrassing public failures and facing deep-seated doubts from within the Pentagon’s own leadership. As T.X. Hammes, an autonomous weapons expert, noted, the Navy is in “uncharted waters,” attempting to overhaul decades of tradition at high speed. The recent setbacks and internal turmoil are a clear signal that this transition is proving to be far more difficult and chaotic than the optimistic rhetoric suggests, and it is a critical issue that warrants close attention as the U.S. races to build the fleet of the future.