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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A centrepiece of the Albanese government\u2019s push to modernise the navy \u2013 a fleet of large, heavily armed warships that can operate with or without sailors on board \u2013 has been thrown into doubt after the United States military dumped its plan to develop the vessels.<\/p>\n The government insists it is committed to the vision outlined in its 2024 surface fleet review, but defence experts say they expect the plan will need to be abandoned or overhauled.<\/p>\n The government announced with much fanfare two years ago<\/a> that it would boost the firepower of the navy by acquiring six large optionally crewed surface vessels packed with missiles and based on a prototype being developed in the US.<\/p>\n But the US navy last year scrapped that program and is instead pursuing a fleet of smaller drone ships that do not have the option of crew members.<\/p>\n Richard Dunley, a senior lecturer in maritime strategy at UNSW, said the US navy\u2019s large unmanned surface vessel program \u201chas been killed\u201d, raising serious questions about the future of Australia\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n \u201cThe universal assumption was that Australia would piggyback off the US vessel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI find it very difficult to see how Australia could do this on our own.<\/p>\n \u201cI keep expecting to hear that it\u2019s dead, and I was surprised to see it feature in this year\u2019s national defence strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Former naval officer Jennifer Parker, an expert associate at the Australian National University\u2019s national security college, agreed, saying: \u201cI think we will end up abandoning the idea of large optionally crewed vessels and move to unmanned medium-sized surface vessels in line with the US.\u201d<\/p>\n The vessels would also probably use containerised weapons rather than the vertical launch system envisaged under the government\u2019s plan, she said.<\/p>\n The government allocated up to $300 million for optionally crewed surface vessels in its 10-year defence spending plan released in April. But with the vessels estimated to cost around $US250 million ($360 million) each to build, the total cost of the program would ultimately be billions of dollars.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cThe government is investing $52-$65 billion over the decade to deliver a larger, more lethal surface combatant fleet, through enhancements to strike, air defence and undersea warfare capabilities including six large optionally crewed surface vessels with up to 32 vertical launch system cells to increase the ADF\u2019s maritime long-range strike capability,\u201d a Defence spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge called for the government to admit it was proposing to buy a \u201cghost ship\u201d, describing the affair as the \u201cperfect example of what is wrong with Defence right now.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US had a thought-bubble about an experimental and boutique military asset and Labor and the Coalition was so desperate to show their loyalty to the US they immediately signed us up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThen when the US spiked the program, without ever consulting Australia, we are left with $300 million attached to a project that is dead in the water.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just the embarrassment and the incompetence, there is also a huge opportunity cost here in terms of public money and defence resources.\u201d<\/p>\n Kamikaze drone boats have played a crucial role in the war in Iran, but these are far smaller and more expendable than the large arsenal ships Australia plans to acquire.<\/p>\n Defence firm Austal in November unveiled designs for two new optionally crewed surface vessels \u2013 known as the Vantage-class \u2013 which it said could meet the Australian navy\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n But military leaders have said they remain committed to developing the vessels with the US.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is an opportunity for us to realise a really important capability that would take our fleet forwards in terms of its lethality and survivability, but that can\u2019t happen if the US navy don\u2019t commit to the program,\u201d Defence Force vice chief Robert Chipman told Senate estimates hearings in June.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was tied to the US navy, and there are currently no other options that we\u2019re considering.\u201d<\/p>\n Chipman added: \u201cWe recognise that there are potential delays to the large optionally crewed vessel, so, yes, we are tracking what the US Navy is saying.\u201d<\/p>\n The surface fleet review said the navy would acquire the six vessels \u201cthrough formal engagement with the United States Navy program as a fast follower\u201d, with an expectation they would enter service in the 2030s and 2040s.<\/p>\n Defence Minister Richard Marles said at the time the vessels would be \u201cexactly based on what has been developed in the United States\u201d, describing the prototype as a \u201cknown quantity\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have the capacity to operate in an uncrewed fashion, but it is the intention of the Royal Australian Navy to crew these vessels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dunley warned at the time<\/a> that the government was gambling on unproven technology and that the vessels had critics within the US navy.<\/p>\n Rear Admiral William Daly, the US navy\u2019s surface warfare requirements director, said last year the large vessels had \u201cwalked the path towards exquisite, expensive [and] unpalatable\u201d.<\/p>\n The US Naval Institute reported last year that the US military\u00a0was moving away from optionally crewed vessels<\/a> because they are considered too costly and complicated.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2753c0422dc498b503b65e6817202a9ca55fe4ed.jpeg\")
A US naval vessel, USV Ranger, on the Pacific Ocean during a training exercise in 2023. <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/95fb1d7950bbf8352945d7825d7cba6789bbe87f.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Matthew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769630235_926_41bbd81bdfa5a98f70781cb78575df66d9219510.png\")
Matthew Knott<\/a> is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-824870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}