NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — U.S. defense contractors are unveiling new technologies that will bring America up to speed on a naval battlefield that has become dominated by drones and autonomous ships.
Multiple companies displayed their unmanned surface vessels (USVs) at the Sea Air Space 2026 expo. The companies also stated that these systems could operate without human interaction if electronic warfare jammed communications with the systems, raising ethical concerns.
Current U.S. law does not prohibit lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS).
One notable USV on display at the Sea Air Space 2026 expo was the Venom, manufactured by Scientific Systems. The vessel is unmanned, more than 30 feet long and has a 300-horsepower diesel engine. Scientific Systems representatives said that the boat could be outfitted for offense, defense, resupply and reconnaissance missions.
“You could send out 1,000 of these and give each one a 1-square-mile block to patrol, or something like that,” Andrew Loiselle, a strategic advisor to Scientific Systems and retired rear admiral, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“It was envisioned as a one-way attack vehicle, and so that’s what we developed,” Loiselle told DCNF. The boat can be fitted with a “kinetic payload in the bow . . . you could missionize it in any number of ways.”
This means the Venom USV could be used to ram surface vessels while carrying an explosive payload in the front for suicide missions.
