By Vicky Uhland, Seapower Correspondent Marines don’t win wars; they win battles, said General Eric Smith, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, during the Tuesday afternoon session “250 Years Strong — Building the Marine Corps of Tomorrow.” “If you’re looking for a chain-mail fist, you’re looking at the U.S. Army,”…
A Panoply of USVs Graces the Gaylord Pier
By Brett Davis, Editor-in-Chief In his keynote speech on Monday, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle said the future Golden Fleet will include a mix of main battle force ships and attritable, rapidly manufactured uncrewed systems. To get started on his shopping Caudle…
White House Commitment to Shipbuilding Sparks Industry Optimism
By Erika Fitzpatrick, Seapower Correspondent The White House’s commitment to multiyear investments in new Navy ships, including the recently announced fiscal 2027 request of $65.8 billion for the Golden Fleet Initiative, is spurring changes in the shipbuilding industrial base, industry leaders said April 21 at Sea-Air-Space 2026. The Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget request would provide the Navy…
Senior Leaders Forecast the Future of Maritime Dominance
By Vicky Uhland, Seapower Correspondent The U.S. Department of Defense is at an inflection point in maritime dominance through acquisition reform, said panelists at Tuesday morning’s fifth annual breakfast hosted by the Navy League’s Center for Maritime Strategy. The Department of War is not just a moniker, “it represents a sea change in…
Saildrone Unveils Spectre High-speed USV for Naval Operations
Saildrone (Booth 1315) today released the design of the Saildrone Spectre, a 52-meter-long, 250-ton uncrewed surface vessel intended for anti-submarine warfare. Capable of speeds up to 30 knots, Spectre is the largest, fastest, and most capable Saildrone platform to date, the company said. It leverages the endurance and reliability of the company’s Saildrone wing system but…
New Microwave Technology Can Disable Drone Swarms, Other Electronic Threats
By Vicky Uhland, Seapower Correspondent In a warfighting world increasingly focused on swarming, uncoordinated unmanned systems across both air and sea, there’s a need for defense approaches that are effective against all types of electronic threats. Epirus (Booth 346) is demonstrating its Leonidas Electronic Protection counter-UAS systems, which use a high-power microwave platform that’s built for the Sixth…
Ship Welding Goes to the Dogs
By Vicky Uhland, Seapower Correspondent Welding is a challenge in shipbuilding. There’s a critical shortage of skilled welders, and massive ship assemblies, inconsistent fit-up stages and large metal pieces that can’t be moved make it difficult to automate welding processes. Enter Rove, a quadruped robotic welding system the size of a standard poodle. Rove is produced by Path…
Leidos, HavocAI Join Forces to Advance UAV Interoperability Across Domains
By Erika Fitzpatrick, Seapower Correspondent Leidos (Booth 1125)and HavocAI (D 17) have teamed to test a new fleet of autonomous uncrewed surface vehicles that offer unique capabilities in multidomain environments, company leaders said April 20 at Sea-Air-Space 2026. “Warfare is changing rapidly,” said Cindy Gruensfelder, president of Leidos Defense, a global defense contractor with 9,000 employees. “It’s really…
L3Harris Develops Torpedo Tube Launch and Recovery System for AUVs
By Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy’s requirement to develop a method of launching and — more challenging — recovering autonomous underwater vehicles from torpedo tubes of submarines is being met by L3Harris Technologies (Booth 937), which has been awarded an Other Transaction Authority contract…
As Funding Increases, How Can the Navy and Its Partners Work Together?
By Vicky Uhland, Seapower Correspondent In a new era of acquisition, it’s important to remember the most pressing operational need for the U.S. Navy is readiness. And the good news is that “today’s fleet is more forward than it’s ever been in my career. We are absolutely ready,” said Rear…
