• WEST 2026 - The Navy will start experimenting with new pairings of unmanned vessels and carrier strike groups this year as it tests its new tailored force approach, the service’s top surface warfare officer said. • Brendan McLane told reporters here at the annual WEST conference that a medium unmanned surface vessel (USV) will deploy alongside the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group that is set to get underway later this year. • The Navy will evaluate how that pairing works, and then assess what other mission packages can be partnered together for the next carrier strike group, McLane said. • “I think the important thing for us is to start getting into the rhythm of we’re going to do this for every strike group now, and we’re going to learn something different with every strike group,” McLane said today. • “And that is super exciting, particularly for some of our younger sailors who are really into this.” He added that the service is considering in the future coupling a small USV - like a global autonomous reconnaissance craft (GARC) - that conducts reconnaissance missions with a ship like the Independence-class littoral combat ships, and then launch and recover them together. • “I think that’s the next step for us to learn from,” McLane said.
Article Summaries:
- WEST 2026 - The Navy will start experimenting with new pairings of unmanned vessels and carrier strike groups this year as it tests its new tailored force approach, the service’s top surface warfare officer said. Vice Adm. Brendan McLane told reporters here at the annual WEST conference that a medium unmanned surface vessel (USV) will deploy alongside the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group that is set to get underway later this year. The Navy will evaluate how that pairing works, and then assess what other mission packages can be partnered together for the next carrier st
Sources: