How many drones does it take to replace a destroyer?
Fresh off a summer of testing robotic boats, the Navy's Task Force 66 wants to turn lessons into metrics.
Lauren C. Williams | August 27, 2025
Could a flotilla of robot boats do the same job as a U.S. Navy destroyer? A task force commander has a theory.
“We have a thesis in TF66 we call the ‘deconstructed DDG,” said Rear Adm. Michael Mattis, who leads an effort to figure out how low-cost, commercially available uncrewed systems might fit into the Navy’s Sixth Fleet. “We think that with 20 USVs of different, heterogeneous types, we could deconstruct a mission that a DDG could do. And we think we could do it at a cost point of essentially 1/30 of what a DDG would cost.”
Now, Mattis needs to prove it to his leaders at U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa, he told an audience at the National Defense Industrial Association’s emerging tech conference on Wednesday.
“I need to be able to show the ROI on that. I need to be able to show the resilience of that system, being able to perform. And I need to be able to show that it's okay to attrit that capability and then be able to quickly regenerate another one, another one. And that comes back down to really understanding these numbers in this data and having confidence that these are real capabilities able to deliver real effects that we've rehearsed and proven.”
https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2025/08/how-many-drones-does-it-take-replace-destroyer/407743/?oref=d1-skybox-hp
