Two of the U.S. Navy’s autonomous boats (U.S. Navy)

OFF CALIFORNIA — The Navy says it’s building the future. The problem is, the future keeps crashing into itself.

In the latest attempt to look busy while falling behind, two Navy drone boats off the California coast failed spectacularly. One froze up like a cheap app. The other plowed into it like a drunk sailor on liberty, launched itself airborne, and belly-flopped into the Pacific. No injuries—unless you count pride, taxpayer dollars, and operational credibility.

The boats came from competing start-ups, Saronic and BlackSea Technologies—poster children for the Pentagon’s ongoing love affair with flashy prototypes and Silicon Valley pixie dust.

A few weeks before that, another BlackSea vessel being towed suddenly took off like it had a mind of its own. It dragged the support boat into a capsize, tossing the captain into the water like a rag doll. He lived. But the illusion of control did not.

Command and Control—or Lack Thereof

The root cause in both cases? Systems that didn’t talk to each other. Autonomy, it turns out, still needs a translator.

So now the Defense Innovation Unit—the Pentagon’s boutique tech shop—has hit pause on a $20 million contract with L3Harris, the vendor behind the control software. That means more delays, more excuses, and more money spent figuring out what the Ukrainians already mastered with Home Depot parts and a soldering iron.

Ukraine’s Doing It With Duct Tape

While the U.S. Navy struggles to keep its AI ships from sinking themselves, Ukraine is out there rewriting naval warfare with remote-controlled boats that punch way above their weight. Kamikaze-style sea drones have turned parts of the Black Sea into a graveyard for Russian ships.

Each of Ukraine’s sea drones costs about $250,000. Compare that to America’s plan: autonomous boats at millions apiece, backed by layers of bureaucracy, a forest of contracts, and zero confirmed kills.

Big Money, Little Return

The Navy’s already poured at least $160 million into BlackSea. The company’s churning out “GARC” drones by the dozen. Saronic, meanwhile, is a tech unicorn flush with VC money—valued at $4 billion—with at least $20 million in Pentagon prototype deals under its belt.

Even Adm. Jim Kilby, the acting Chief of Naval Operations, took a field trip to BlackSea’s plant in June. He said the bots would “extend fleet operations and increase combat capability.” Admirable goals. But first, maybe make sure they don’t crash into each other?

The Replicator Gambit

This all falls under Project Replicator—the Pentagon’s $1 billion Hail Mary launched in 2023 to build thousands of drones to counter China’s growing edge in unmanned warfare. The first systems are supposed to be announced soon. At this rate, they’ll arrive just in time to be obsolete.

Meanwhile, President Trump’s newly passed “Big Beautiful Bill” allocates $5 billion more for autonomous naval systems. Good money, but as always, the danger isn’t just that the tech fails—it’s that the bureaucracy does what it does best: talks tough, moves slow, and forgets the war is already here.

Bottom Line:

The Ukrainians are winning sea battles with DIY drones. China’s running laps with AI swarms. The U.S. Navy? Still testing, still crashing, still learning. And if we’re not careful, we’ll wake up one morning and realize we built the world’s most expensive fleet of remote-controlled buoys.