Role & capabilities
- Maritime autonomy experimentation
- Modular sensor trials
- Integration with crewed fleets
- Primary domain
- Sea surface
- System type
- Uncrewed surface vessel
- Developer / manufacturer
- Leidos / Vigor Industrial programme
- Origin / production countries
- United States
- Other names
- ACTUV; Sea Hunter II
- Variants / configurations
- Sea Hunter — original ACTUV-derived prototype; Seahawk — follow-on prototype
- Operators / programme customers
- United States Navy — experimentation and documented fleet activity
Evidence & current status
The Navy's 2025 prototype classification and supplier-reported 2026 fleet activity describe successive stages. Original Sea Hunter performance numbers are not interchangeable with Seahawk specifications.
Sea Hunter and the follow-on Seahawk are ocean-going vessels central to the US Navy's exploration of uncrewed surface operations. Their trimaran layout combines a main hull with stabilising outriggers, providing space for machinery, sensors and extended voyages without a resident ship's company.
The Navy's August 2025 fact file described both as research and experimentation prototypes. A newer September 2026 Leidos announcement reports Sea Hunter at RIMPAC and Seahawk operating with a carrier strike group. This supports documented fleet use while retaining their development history; it does not establish a mass-produced operational class.
The original Sea Hunter figures below come from a 2023 Office of Naval Research summary. They should not be transferred automatically to Seahawk or future medium USV procurement requirements. Leidos separately gives Seahawk's full-load displacement as 145 long tons and identifies design changes following experience with Sea Hunter. Payload arrangements, autonomy software and trial instrumentation can also change between deployments, so this family profile keeps the two vessels' evidence distinct.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration | Uncrewed trimaran research vessel | Supplier-published figure; configuration and operating conditions affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Hull / propulsion | Sea Hunter: twin diesel engines and twin screws | Original Sea Hunter baseline, not a Seahawk specification. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | Sea Hunter: 132 ft long | Original Sea Hunter baseline. Source ↗ |
| Displacement / mass | Sea Hunter: 135 tons including 40 tons of fuel | Original Sea Hunter; source uses 'tons' without specifying the unit standard. Seahawk differs. Source ↗ |
| Payload | Sea Hunter: up to 10 additional tons | Source baseline; not a universal mission allowance. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | Sea Hunter: designed for 70 days uncrewed | Design objective, not a guarantee for every payload. Source ↗ |
| Range | Sea Hunter: 10,000 nautical miles at cruise | 2023 design summary. Source ↗ |
| Speed | Sea Hunter: 12 knots cruise; 27 knots burst | 2023 design summary. Source ↗ |
| Sea state / environment | Sea Hunter: operation in sea state 5; survival in sea state 7 | Operating and survival limits are different. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Communications / control | Autonomous vessel operations under a Navy experimentation programme | Supplier-published figure; configuration and operating conditions affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Launch / deployment | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
Documented milestones
Fleet integration update
Leidos reported Sea Hunter's RIMPAC activity and Seahawk operating with a carrier strike group.
Read the announcement ↗
Publication history
- — Added sourced land and maritime coverage with domain-specific evidence and limitations.
Suggest a correction to this entry →
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.
- US Navy MUSV fact file, updated 27 August 2025 (opens in a new tab)Government / operator
- Office of Naval Research Future Force, volume 9 no.1, 2023 (opens in a new tab)Government / operator
- US Navy Seahawk photograph, 6 August 2025 (opens in a new tab)Government / operator
- Seahawk delivery announcement, 7 April 2021 (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme
- Sea Hunter and Seahawk fleet activity, 8 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme