By Chelsea Robin | 2026-06-23

Washington is pushing for greater use of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) as the U.S. military strengthens its ability to operate and sustain forces in the Indo-Pacific amid rising competition with China.

The U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee forwarded the recommendation to the Army in May in its draft report for the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

"The committee believes that manned Army watercraft may be aided by dedicated [USVs] providing enhanced force protection, early warning, sensing and defensive effects while reducing risk to personnel," reads the draft bill.

The recommendation aims to address vulnerabilities faced by traditional, slower watercraft that often lack sufficient defensive capabilities against asymmetric threats, unmanned systems and enemy fire, according to House Armed Services Committee chairman Mike Rogers.

While U.S. forces have traditionally relied on "first island chain" bases and access agreements to sustain operations, that strategy may no longer suffice against China. USVs could become critical for maneuvering U.S. units armed with antiship missiles and air defenses, USNI News reported.

The strategic first island chain includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.

For example, during the recently completed Balikatan military exercise in the Philippines, Army watercraft delivered a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher to Balabac Island near a South China Sea chokepoint, enabling its first firing from that location, Naval News reported.

But that strategy may no longer be sufficient to sustain forces during a conflict with China, USNI News reported.

Securing island logistics

Meanwhile, the Army announced it is seeking an unspecified number of small uncrewed boats to fix shortcomings in its current fleet.

"Army Watercraft Systems (AWS) are critical to cross dispersed littoral formations in the Indo-Pacific theater, but the current fleet is aging and reliant upon a limited cadre of Army senior enlisted mariners," the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) tweeted May 28.

The current fleet lacks the payload capacity needed to move supplies at the pace required by operational forces, according to the solicitation. The challenge is compounded in contested environments where adversaries can target high-value, personnel-intensive logistics assets.

Army watercraft demonstrated that mission during this year's Balikatan exercise in the Philippines, delivering a HIMARS launcher to Balabac Island near a South China Sea chokepoint. The deployment enabled the first HIMARS firing from the location, Naval News reported May 7.

The Autonomous Resupply Vehicle-Small (ARV-S) must be capable of delivering the equivalent of at least two 20-foot shipping containers to forward-deployed units, with a total cargo weight of up to 26.5 short tons per cargo unit, according to the solicitation.

The vessels would need to support helicopter and drone-based unloading while remaining compatible with standard pier infrastructure, according to Inside Defense.

"For Indo-Pacific Contested Logistics, [USVs] can provide significant operational advantages by eliminating risk to onboard personnel and reducing the need for trained mariners," reads the solicitation, according to Naval News.

The solicitation did not specify how many vessels would be needed but said "end strength may require dozens or more ARV-Ss to be produced quickly" and that any bidder "must have a realistic capability to scale production." Bidding has since closed.

While the Army's unmanned efforts remain focused on escort and resupply missions, the Navy is pursuing unmanned systems on a much larger scale.

Fleet set to grow

Four medium USVs have completed deployments in the Indo-Pacific, but Navy officials expect the fleet to grow to more than 30 vessels by 2030, according to Defense News.

The expansion aligns with the Navy's 2045 force vision, U.S. Navy Capt. Garrett Miller. Miller, commodore of Surface Development Group 1, said at the Sea-Air-Space Conference outside Washington, DC, in April.

He said the service expects thousands of small USVs and an unspecified number of unmanned aircraft systems to operate from both manned and unmanned ships across the region, Defense News reported.

Betting on unmanned systems

The prioritization of uncrewed vessels was evident in the U.S. Navy's fiscal year 2027 shipbuilding plan released May 11.

"The budget signals the Navy's intent to incorporate a 'high-low mix' strategy that pairs a smaller number of expensive and highly capable assets with a larger volume of cheaper … ones," the American Security Project (ASP) reported.

This approach allows the United States to "efficiently deter or compete with China by enhancing the agility, responsiveness, and flexibility of naval forces," giving commanders more options in both peacetime and conflict, ASP said.