US Navy greenlights 7 players for MUSV at-sea testing

June 1, 2026, by Fatima Bahtić

The US Navy has selected seven companies’ entries to advance to the at-sea testing phase of the medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) marketplace.

Sea Machines, Leidos, Saronic Technologies, Galliano Marine Services, PacMar Technologies, Birdon, and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) are among the seven companies selected by the navy for the mUSV program.

Companies whose MUSV completes the at-sea test will receive $15 million and will be eligible for follow-on production. At-sea testing will begin next month and should be complete by October 2026.

The MUSV marketplace creates new opportunities for smaller, non-traditional shipyards to build our future fleet. This initiative represents a strategic shift in naval acquisition, designed to rapidly field unmanned technologies by leveraging mature, existing commercial solutions.

The Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE), Robotics and Autonomous Systems’ (RAS) mission is to deliver hedge capabilities that expand naval power, increase operational persistence, and impose operational dilemmas that degrade adversary tempo and freedom of action, according to the officials.

To remind, Saronic recently held a launch ceremony for its first Marauder MUSV.

Saronic launches first Marauder MUSV

Vessels

Sea Hunter and Seahawk are the first autonomous medium unmanned surface vessels operated by the US Navy. The vessels are approximately 41 meters long (~135’), with 142.3-metric-ton displacement at full load. The navy is using Sea Hunter and Seahawk as prototypes for research and experimentation.

Major goals of research and experimentation efforts with Sea Hunter and Seahawk are to determine the most effective way to utilize USVs in operations and how to best integrate them into the fleet.

They were originally developed as part of a project led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), before being transferred to the Navy.

These vessels were purpose-built unmanned maritime platforms to support USV program technology testing, experimentation and development, and to demonstrate long-range/endurance autonomous operations.