Pentagon verifies Ghost Fleet Overlord program quickens progress toward USV

The Pentagon, in response to a congressional mandate, has verified that the Strategic Capabilities Office's Ghost Fleet Overlord program quickens the progress toward an Unmanned Surface Vehicle.

Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer sent a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee last month noting Overlord does not repeat the work of the Sea Hunter program.

"The Navy is utilizing Sea Hunter to demonstrate a blue-water operations capability, as well as long-range and endurance autonomous operations under remote human supervisory control," the Nov. 16 letter reads.

"In contrast, Ghost Fleet Overlord will develop optionally manned LUSVs with both increased payload capability and capacity across multiple missions sets," the letter continues.

The letter comes in response to a provision in the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act which mandates the Pentagon verify the Overlord initiative "accelerates development of the future unmanned surface vehicle program" and confirm the "procurement strategy for the ghost fleet overlord project is properly coordinated and not duplicative of" Sea Hunter.

In the letter, Griffin and Spencer write: "Overlord will additionally mature integrated C3 systems and large-payload integration concepts, providing the Navy with Fleet-ready, multiple mission assets that will accelerate the development and procurement of future LUSVs within the program supporting the Navy's Future Surface Combatant Force architecture."