Program Manager, Tactical Technology Office
Launched under the secrecy of its tarp, Justin Katz of Breaking Defense reports that DARPA’s NOMARS program has launched the Defiant (USX-1), an autonomous warship designed to operate without humans aboard. Completed in February 2025, the 180-foot vessel will begin sea trials in spring 2025. NOMARS aims to optimize size, cost, reliability, and survivability by removing human provisions, marking a significant shift toward fully autonomous naval ships. Katz writes:
A key Pentagon research and development agency said it has successfully launched and will soon begin sea trials for its new warship built from the ground up to sail without any humans aboard.
“The No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program has built a ship designed to operate autonomously for long durations at sea,” according to a statement from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on Tuesday. “Construction of the prototype, unmanned surface vessel (USV) was completed in February 2025.”
Sea trials for the ship, dubbed Defiant (USX-1) and which does not have any mission or combat systems installed onboard, are scheduled for spring 2025, the statement added.
DARPA in August 2022 selected tech and engineering firm SERCO to design and build NOMARS, a USV measuring 180 feet long and weighing 240 metric tons. […]
Doing as much presents its own sets of challenges, but also a new world of potential solutions. For example, what happens if a fire breaks out aboard Defiant? The answer, Navy officials and others have previously told Breaking Defense, is that the ship can be equipped with a special gas that floods its internal spaces. That gas, which would have health repercussions if humans inhaled it, can deprive the compartment of oxygen, snuffing out a fire.
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