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

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers firing a standard missile 2 (SM-2) pictured (Image credit: Naval News) 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 USVFire 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 nowThe demonstration was coordinated by the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, under the sponsorship of the US Navy's Fleet Experimentation ProgramLockheed 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.Not the first USV missile launch, but potentially more consequentialThis 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.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.Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!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. Rahim Amir is a UAE-based tech writer who enjoys building PCs as much as he enjoys writing about them. He has been professionally writing about PC hardware since 2023, focusing on buyer’s guides, hardware reviews, and sponsored content and features related to tech.Having built hundreds of gaming PCs and being an avid gamer in his spare time, Rahim tends to have stronger opinions about hardware than most. This is particularly on display when he gets his way with powerful, but minimalistic RGB builds even as Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs come a close second.