Pentagon Launches 120-Day Sprint to Field Armed Counter-UAS USVs

The Pentagon’s Defense Rapid Prototyping Management office for unmanned systems and the Defense Innovation Unit issued a solicitation on October 19, 2026, calling for armed counter-air and counter-surface unmanned surface vessels (USVs) ready for operational fielding within roughly four months.

DIU’s notice argues that the cost of detecting and neutralizing low-cost asymmetric threats is currently “heavily skewed in favor of the adversary.” The target threat set spans explosive USVs, Group 1-3 unmanned aircraft, attack helicopters, go-fast boats and low-flying aircraft — the kind of cheap, numerous threats that have strained traditional destroyer-based defenses.

Vendors must integrate existing U.S. weapons rather than develop new ones: Hellfire (AGM-114L), JAGM (AGM-179), APKWS guided rockets and the Stinger missile. The solicitation calls for detecting, tracking and engaging low-flying aerial threats beyond 3 nautical miles, with engaging Group 5 aircraft described as valuable but not mandatory. Platforms need a minimum 200 nautical mile range, a cruising speed of at least 10 knots, autonomous navigation, station-keeping and collision avoidance, plus 360-degree sensing. Weapons employment must remain under human supervision, and the systems must keep working in degraded or denied communications and satellite navigation environments. Rearming is expected to be executed “by a two-person crew with minimal support equipment,” whether pier-side, in austere conditions or aboard ship.

Structurally, the effort runs as a three-phase, 12-month prize challenge offering up to $100 million in total awards, including up to $40 million earmarked for the counter-air phase alone. Selected vendors must demonstrate an integrated system within 30 days of being chosen. Operational testing is scheduled for early 2027 at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia, and the Pentagon has set aside a further $200 million for follow-on prototyping and production agreements once the challenge concludes.

Several companies are already named in connection with the effort. Saildrone fired a JAGM missile from a Surveyor USV during the RIMPAC 2026 exercise off Hawaii, demonstrating exactly the kind of weapons integration the Pentagon now wants fielded at scale. BlackSea Technologies has shown similar capability on its Comet USV, while L3Harris has demonstrated integrating its VAMPIRE counter-UAS system onto unmanned surface platforms. In a related but separate effort, Exail is set to supply a DriX H-9 USV to the Office of Naval Research as a testbed for a counter-drone system.

The push comes against a backdrop in which Iran’s Shahed family of drones has proven difficult for existing shipboard systems on U.S. Navy destroyers to counter cost-effectively. USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120), fitted with a Coyote launcher, is currently operating in the Arabian Sea in support of the Pentagon’s blockade posture toward Iran. The Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group is expected to reinforce that destroyer once Exercise Keen Sword in Japan concludes in late October.

The scope and pace of the solicitation signal that the Navy and DIU want unmanned surface platforms fielded quickly as an additional, lower-cost defensive layer alongside expensive destroyer-based air defense systems, specifically against cheap drone and fast-boat threats. A four-month fielding target is unusually compressed for a Pentagon acquisition effort, reflecting the urgency driven by the current threat environment in the Middle East.

While Türkiye has advanced its own armed unmanned surface vessels such as ULAQ and SANCAR in a broadly similar capability space, this Pentagon program is not connected to any Turkish system; it is built specifically around U.S.-origin USV makers and the integration of American munitions including Hellfire, JAGM, APKWS and Stinger.

Sources:

• Naval News, “Pentagon Launches 120-Day ‘Sprint’ to Field Counter-UAS Armed USVs,” October 22, 2026, https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2026/10/pentagon-diu-sprint-counter-uas-armed-usvs/ — primary source for program details, budget figures and the list of participating companies.