Miles Jamison 
- Leidos has demonstrated its two medium unmanned surface vessels
- Seahawk is the first MUSV to deploy with a carrier strike group
- Sea Hunter traveled autonomously more than 2,000 nautical miles during RIMPAC 2026
Leidos has announced that its Seahawk and Sea Hunter autonomous vessels recently demonstrated operational capabilities in support of U.S. Navy missions, including deployment with the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and participation in Rim of the Pacific 2026, or RIMPAC.
How Is Seahawk Operating With the Carrier Strike Group?
The Reston, Virginia-based company said Tuesday that Seahawk is operating with the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group as the first medium unmanned surface vessel, or MUSV, to deploy operationally with a carrier strike group.
The vessel operates within the strike group’s communications, command-and-control and operational environment. Its capabilities include autonomous navigation and perception, collision avoidance and automatic navigation around designated restricted areas.
Seahawk can also maintain control through alternate communications paths if its primary communications link fails. During testing, it navigated to commanded waypoints without GPS before reintegrating GPS while remaining on course.
What Did Sea Hunter Demonstrate at RIMPAC?
Sea Hunter participated in RIMPAC 2026 as the exercise’s only MUSV. Powered by the company’s Leidos Autonomous Vessel Architecture, or LAVA, the vessel traveled autonomously more than 2,000 nautical miles from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to San Diego, California.
During the exercise, Sea Hunter demonstrated autonomous surveillance and manned-unmanned teaming. The vessel operated as part of a larger naval force and independently.
What Experience Does Leidos Bring to Maritime Autonomy?
Leidos said its autonomous maritime vessels and autonomy software have logged more than 200,000 nautical miles and 14,000 hours of safe autonomous operation over more than a decade of development and operations. The company’s maritime autonomy work also includes the Ranger MUSV that test-fired an SM-6 Standard Missile in 2021 as part of the Navy’s Ghost Fleet Overlord program.
Leidos was also among seven companies selected in late May to advance to at-sea testing under the Navy’s broader MUSV program, which aims to field 36 such vessels by the end of fiscal year 2027.
