Leidos Australia built one of two Sea Archer unmanned surface vessels (USV) that are in existence – the other was constructed in the USA – and the 11.2m-long craft is currently undergoing a series of Australian trials to demonstrate its maturity.
Kevin Quanderer, International Director Science & Technology at Leidos Australia, told Naval News in late March that the Australian vessel was undergoing harbour acceptance trials in Tasmania that month, and that no undue issues had been discovered.
Then, in May, the Sea Archer will undertake sea acceptance trials from Darwin in Australia’s north “to be able to make that progress and keep going down this Technology Readiness Levelpath to increase the maturity in the system”. These sea trials will include “different sea states to wring it out,” and the craft is expected to achieve TRL 6 in a mission-relative environment.
Development pathway
Quanderer explained the planned trajectory of the Sea Archer’s development in Australia. “We really emphasise that Sea Archer was built in Australia by Australians for Australian missions.” He continued, “The idea is to build up to a level of maturity, to understand what customer requirements are – certainly for Australia and then in the region – and then to make sure Sea Archer is ready to support those expected requirements when they come out.”
And after that? “Things are pretty open at that point. So we’re in discussions to say, if everything comes through in the harbour acceptance and sea acceptance trials, then we’re operationally ready. So we’re looking at what the opportunities may be for exercises, for evaluations or to do a contribution to the operational world.”
Of relevance, Australia released a 2024 surface fleet review that recommended procurement of six Large Optionally crewed Surface Vessels (LOSV), each boasting 32 missile cells. Various shipbuilders are angling solutions for this Royal Australian Navy (RAN) requirement, with the Leidos Sea Archer being one of them.
Naval News asked how the Sea Archer stacks up against the vague LOSV specifications listed in the surface combatant report. Quanderer responded, “I think a bunch of time has passed since that came out, and so I think, as they go into 2026, it’ll be interesting to see how they refine that requirement. Certainly, we’ve positioned Sea Archer to be in that Goldilocks spot of the just right area.” He noted that the USV can be scaled up or down according to specific requirements.
Furthermore, Leidos Australia has carefully researched how Sea Archers could be manufactured locally. “In Australia we’ve identified about 14-16 different shipyards that we think can reproduce these at pace, if and when they’re needed.” That is one reason why the company chose an aluminium hull, since it enables rapid construction to occur in times of crisis.
Additionally, practically the whole Sea Archer – apart from its autonomy package – can be built in Australia using local components. “The intent is that as we gain knowledge and we use that in Australian waters and in the Indo-Pacific, to continue to mature the autonomy package with inputs from Australia. So if you ask me about the materiel boat build, I’d say just about everything can be built in Australia, and that’s the intent.”
Regional interest
Australia is obviously not the only potential customer, for Leidos is talking to other potential Indo-Pacific customers too. “Without getting into specific country names, we’re certainly happy to have discussions and share with other countries,” Quanderer relayed. He also said Leidos would entertain the idea of Australia being a manufacturing hub for regional customers.
He said “almost everyone is open-minded to adopting uncrewed surface vessels,” but navies have different risk appetites as they contemplate hybrid manned-unmanned fleets. “In the Indo-Pacific, I’d say some of those requirements are starting to evolve and so, as we’re doing Sea Archer on our own here in Australia, we’re looking at what we think those requirements are and trying to anticipate them in advance of their release.”
Mission set
Quanderer listed four primary missions for the medium-sized Sea Archer USV. These are intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; micro-logistics; electronic warfare (electronic support and attack) and kinetic strike. This is not an exhaustive list, for “we’ll mature and go into others as we go along”. Leidos has already forged agreements with Kongsberg regarding integrating the Naval Strike Missile, and with Australian-based Innovaero to incorporate OWL-X loitering munitions.
Regarding strike missions, Leidos is focused on anti-ship capabilities. Asked whether surface-to-air missions are possible, Quanderer responded: “If you take a look at the Ukraine war, they’ve gone what we call cross-domain. USVs are on the water, but the Ukrainians have quickly put in a surface-to-air missile capability, and so the takeaway is it’s possible. So if somebody wanted to do that, there’s no reason in my mind why the platform couldn’t support that. It would just need integration and funding.”
He also pointed out the advantage of his USV having a closed hull, as an adversary does not know what weapons or equipment is being carried. “If you’re outside and you’re observing the USV, you don’t know what’s on the inside of it. You may have intelligence-gathering equipment, you may have kinetic strike in there. But the point is, a potential adversary has got to honour those threats if they don’t know what’s out there.” Furthermore, the Sea Archer’s modular nature means payloads can be changed, plus it has the ability to loiter on station for weeks.
A Chinese naval task force passed through the Tasman Sea and almost completed a circumnavigation of Australia in early 2025. Quanderer said a platform like the Sea Archer would have been ideal for that situation. “You know, all navies right now are being tasked with keeping sea lanes open, and if there are foreign warships that are in your EEZ or close to your territorial waters, I think the use of a USV such as Sea Archer for escort missions – so it can complement crewed vessels – that’s a great use case.”
“The question we have is, for some of these legacy missions that the US Navy and other navies like the Royal Australian Navy are doing, a low-cost USV like Sea Archer can pick up those missions and increase the navy order of battle. We think that’s a perfect mission to fill in those legacy areas, whether it’s ISR, logistics or escort duties, those types of things, to increase the naval order of battle at a cost point that is affordable.”
The Leidos Australia executive said the potential of naval manned-unmanned teaming is “really exciting”, including multiple USVs capable of different missions. “You find that the sum of two USVs is greater than the individuals: one plus one equals three. They can work together, they can share their solutions, their data.” He noted too: “As all these different vessels head down their path of maturity and more confidence and operational use, I think it’ll be very, very interesting to see how we do cross-domain work, how uncrewed aerial vehicles are working with uncrewed surface vessels.”
The Sea Archer is also expeditionary in nature. They fit inside 40-foot containers, enabling easy transport. They could also be loaded onto C-17 cargo aircraft or towed to boat ramps on a trailer. This means they could be rapidly moved around Australia or farther afield. Alternatively, quantities of USVs can be prepositioned.
The Sea Archer carries a 900kg payload and travels at speeds of 40kt. Its listed range is 1,500nm, but this can be extended 20% by using part of the payload capacity to carry extra fuel. The hull form, designed by Gibbs and Cox, has been around for 30 years so it is “well proven”. “Because of that, we’ve got high confidence that the vessel can operate nicely operating in Sea States 1-4, and then it can survive and operate with reduced performance in Sea States 5-6. I guess one of the things I would get across to you is there are a lot of people doing USVs that are in the aspirational PowerPoint world with glossy brochures, but this one’s in the water. It’s operating, and we’ve got pretty good confidence in it.”
Quanderer, a former US naval attaché in Australia, stressed Leidos’ expertise in autonomy. The company has worked with the US Navy (USN) for more than 50 years. Its portfolio includes USVs like the Sea Hunter and Sea Ranger, as well as the Sea Dart unmanned underwater vehicle.
In fact, moving beyond the realm of experimentation, a USN carrier strike group will deploy with two medium-sized USVs later this year. The navy confirmed that a Sea Hunter and Seahawk USV, both Leidos platforms, would be under fleet control for a deployment.
