While not exactly novel, there has been a renewed focus on the deployment of multidomain USV swarm formations—that is, the synchronized use of multiple USV units to extend coverage and realize new efficiencies. These swarms act as distributed sensor and instrumentation networks rather than just single-purpose platforms and agents. The swarm’s configuration—the number of USVs as well as the model or mix of models deployed—ultimately determines its coverage, endurance, and broad capabilities. Ongoing investment in swarm technology is part of a paradigm shift sure to redefine modern battlegrounds—to send drones into conflict, not people.

And it’s not just USVs but interoperable ecosystems of remotely programmable and autonomous vehicles performing essential tasks on, below (AUVs), and above (UAVs) the waterline. Each system complements the others, improving situational awareness, operational synergy, resilience and redundancy, and tactical scalability—all while reducing the human burden.

MILITARY FORCE MULTIPLICATION

In naval warfare, multidomain swarms will prove instrumental to persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) around coasts, chokepoints, and high‑value units, acting as an advancing frontline that channels multiple data feeds into a common operating picture, overseen by a remote command center or support vessel.

Comprehensive coverage can be achieved through the coordinated deployment of UAVs, USVs and UUVs equipped with their appropriate imaging technologies (radar, lidar, sonar), cameras, sensors, and passive acoustic systems to collectively detect, classify, and track surface and subsurface targets far more efficiently than a few large, crewed ships, while exposing fewer warfighters to active threats.

Additionally, anti‑submarine warfare and mine countermeasures will be priority applications, because they traditionally require long, dangerous, and expensive crewed operations. Swarms towing lightweight sonars or deploying expendable sensors can create wide‑area acoustic fields to detect submarines, shifting from platform‑centric to sensor‑field concepts of ASW. For mines, numerous small USV/UUV teams operating in parallel can map and neutralize hazards in shallow or contested waters, keeping humans out of minefields and significantly increasing clearance throughput.

SCIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE USES

Beyond defense, USV swarms have the capacity to transform how oceans are measured, monitored, and serviced, because they can be built and operated more cost-effectively than crewed vessels and can stay on station for much longer periods. These efficiencies translate directly into savings for operators and their end clients.

Oceanographic and climate research will benefit from dense networks of low‑power and energy harvesting USVs and UUVs that continuously collect data on currents, temperature, salinity, and weather, improving models for weather prediction (including major tropical storms), fisheries, and long‑term climate trends. Instead of a single research ship conducting episodic surveys, coordinated swarm fleets can blanket large regions, adaptively repositioning in response to events like hurricanes or algal blooms.

AUTONOMY PROGRAMMING

As autonomy software has matured, a shift can be seen from moving individual craft to groups of uncrewed systems that coordinate tasks like search patterns, tracking targets, or mapping large zones without continuous operator input. Swarm behaviors—such as formation keeping, task allocation, and dynamic re‑tasking—will benefit from AI, allowing USV swarms to handle uncertain environments and degraded communications, while still allowing humans to set intent and boundaries.

In offshore energy and maritime infrastructure, swarms of inspection and monitoring USVs will assess rigs, wind farms, pipelines, and subsea cable corridors, providing high‑frequency inspection, anomaly detection, and rapid on‑scene assessment after storms or suspected sabotage efforts. Multiple small platforms can share tasks such as surface patrol, acoustic surveys, and close‑in imaging, reducing downtime and the need for support vessels. Environmental and disaster‑response roles will also grow—swarms can track oil spills, map debris fields, and support search‑and‑rescue with coordinated search patterns over wide areas while relaying real‑time data ashore.

ENABLING CHANGE

At SeaRobotics, we know the future role of uncrewed swarms depends on several key enabling technologies: robust autonomy, resilient communications, and efficient power systems. Our experienced robotics engineers have developed a suite of USVs capable of enhancing a multitude of different marine operations, including the SR Surveyor Class, the SR Utility Class, and the SR Endurance Class.

Dimensions are all-important when it comes to designing USVs. After all, USVs, whether already in service or at concept stage, vary enormously. Fragmentation of USV classes will no doubt continue and this will lead to a more varied influence of USVs swarm based on target application. For us, in the immediate future, we see the use of quick to deploy and relatively compact USVs as a versatile use of swarm technology. In recent years SeaRobotics developed its own USV Swarm Unit, with our SR-Surveyor M1.8 as the chief protagonist.

This model of USV is plug-and-play ready and, thanks to its shallow draft, ideally suited to running exercises in hard-to-navigate and potentially dangerous waters. The USV’s payload is fully integrated, but certain sensors can be swapped in and out, making the SRSurveyor M1.8 units ideal for force multiplication exercises.

We have also begun testing the swarm’s capacity to work autonomously with larger USVs and AUVs. This integration is a key step in establishing an uncrewed ecosystem—as system of systems that requires diminishing human intervention and, eventually, supervision. Our larger USVs belong to our SR Utility Class—versatile models that carries an interchangeable suite of customizable sensors and handling systems— and our SREndurance Class, comprising larger USVs designed for longer deployments in waters further offshore, and come equipped with autonomous launch and recovery systems onboard to allow the USV to deploy ancillary assets, such as ROVs or multiple towed sensors.

Uncrewed swarms are poised to move from demonstrations to indispensable tools across military, scientific, and industrial domains, reshaping how humans measure, explore, and protect marine environments.

This feature appeared in ON&T Magazine’s 2026 January Special Edition, The Future of Ocean Technology Vol. 6, to read more access the magazine here.