Military researchers ask industry for uncrewed ship-defense autonomy and weapons to safeguard cargo vessels
ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military researchers are asking industry to develop a semi-autonomous ocean vessel with a modular architecture that can defend unarmed cargo vessels from enemy uncrewed surface vessels and other maritime threats.
Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., issued a broad-agency announcement (HR001125S0003) last week for the Pulling Guard program.
Pulling Guard seeks to develop miniaturized sensors from existing technologies in a software and hardware modular architecture to facilitate rapid development that evolves as new threats emerge.
Ship-defense solutions will retain a remote supervisor in the loop who retains authority for engagement decisions, yet the project requires sufficient machine autonomy to enable the supervisor to control several systems over a secure connection.
Shipping economy
The global economy relies on efficient maritime shipping, which constitutes 75 percent of all goods, researchers explain. Large vessels handle most bulk transport, and are vulnerable to attack by pirates, terrorists, and hostile navies.
Repurposed commercial technology – including command and control, autonomy, and remote sensing – continues to lower the cost of entry for unconventional threats.
Although the U.S. Navy has protected vessels and international sea lanes, the future of deploying destroyers or carrier strike groups no longer may be viable because of expanding threats. Hence, the need for uncrewed surface vessels to act as armed escorts for cargo ships where necessary.
Pulling Guard will be in two phases: an 18-month development phase, and a 21-month Integration, manufacturing, and commercial transition phase.
The development phase has two technology focus areas: platform development, and sensor and kill chain development. Both phases will involve several contractors, and may require collaboration on physical and digital interfaces, and on the design approach.
The Pulling Guard uncrewed surface vessel project focuses on resilient software that starts secure and builds capability through formal methods that involve mathematically rigorous techniques for producing software and machine-checkable evidence of software performance.
Integration, manufacture, and commercial transition may include a mix of phase-one performers with focus on final design, manufacture of initial variants, demonstration events, and execution of commercial strategy.
Pulling Guard systems will be commercially owned and provided under contract to the vessel under escort, in partnership with the U.S. military. The system will retain remote military operators for engagement authority, supervision, and decision making.
Passive sensors
Pulling Guard should not require permanent modifications to protected vessels, and will use passive or low-probability-of-detection sensing, including passive sensors for threat detection and tracking; sensor and image processing to support decision-making; cargo ship interfaces; and autonomous power management. autonomy for power management.
Uncrewed escort vessels will have 2.75-inch rockets with imaging infrared seeker with fire-and-forget capability for their weaponry.
Companies interested should submit abstracts no later than 2 June 2025 and full proposals no later than 25 July 2025 via the DARPA Broad Agency Announcement Tool (BAAT) online at https://baa.darpa.mil.
Email questions or concerns to DARPA at [email protected]. More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/00275131eef14317b58629367410c8eb/view.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
