Lockheed carries out missile launches directly from a drone boat - will the
US Navy be next?

Date:
Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:10:00 +0000

Description:
A crewless sailboat fired two live missiles at RIMPAC, six months after Lockheed and Saildrone started work. The boat sails itself, but a Navy-operated fire control system still makes weapon-deployment decisions.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Saildrone announced on 20th August that its Surveyor Unmanned Surface Vehicle fired two Lockheed JAGM missiles off Hawaii during RIMPAC 2026, the first missile launch from an unmanned USV Fire control ran through the Navy's remotely operated ARES
system with a carrier strike group, so the boat sailed itself, but the decision to deploy the weapons remained a strictly human one for now The demonstration was coordinated by the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, under the sponsorship of the US Navy's Fleet Experimentation Program Lockheed Martin announced on August 20 that a Saildrone Surveyor-class unmanned surface vessel, fitted with a Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM)
dual launcher, launched two JAGM rounds during Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2026, using targeting data for a simulated high-speed surface craft.

The demonstration ran in coordination with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, under the sponsorship of the US Navy's Fleet Experimentation Program, and the fire control ran through the Navy's Adjunct Remote
Engagement System (ARES), which Lockheed describes as "a remotely operated combat system." The exercise, which could be seen as a fully autonomous play based on earlier coverage, involved relaying remote targeting information to the Saildrone Surveyor, which it acted on successfully. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Not the first USV missile launch, but potentially more consequential This isn't the first time a USV has launched a missile; The USV Ranger fired an SM-6 from a containerized four-cell launcher in September 2021 under the Ghost Fleet Overlord program, and Ukraine has since moved the concept from test range to combat, with its Magura-series drone boats using adapted R-73 air-to-air missiles to shoot down Russian helicopters and, as per claims, potentially an Su-30 fighter.

Its weapon choice says more about the platform's intended target; the JAGM is the successor to the Hellfire missile, a 50kg weapon with an 18km effective targeting radius. This makes it not a ship-killer, but a platform that overwhelmingly targets smaller, faster aerial and naval targets such as one-way drones and small boats. You may like USAF's Autonomous AI fighter drone just fired a 'real' AMRAAM air-to-air missile in a world first UK tests robot boat that can fly its own wired drone even in 14ft waves and stay at
sea for weeks The US Navy used a swarm of drone boats to seize $81 million worth of cocaine in the Caribbean

Naval News reported in July that Lockheed had earlier pitched a surface-launched JAGM launcher for destroyers and coastal combat ships during the height of hostilities with the Houthis. Arming what is effectively a relatively expendable platform with the same could make it considerably more lethal at a fraction of the cost of an alternate warship.

At the same time, the Surveyor's passive electronic warfare sensor, as demonstrated during the same RIMPAC outing, allows it to detect, classify,
and identify threats in conjunction with an MH-60 helicopter, essentially doubling down as a support platform for larger threats. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get
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It does have limitations, though; the most notable is that a dual launcher at sea cannot reload itself and, unless addressed, it is effectively a limited weapon at best that could quickly be overwhelmed by even cheaper drones in most theaters of war.

Whether a demonstration of a drone boat actually results in the deployment of an armed USV by the US Navy in the near future is something that remains to
be seen; the tech is tested, but unproven in battle, even as costs, capacity to mass-produce such weapons, and utility in actual combat are all questions that will possibly need answering before it is deployed by the Navy in any meaningful way. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/lockheed-carries-out-missile-launches-directly-f rom-a-drone-boat-will-the-us-navy-be-next


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