Navy and DIU Pursue Long-Range Maritime Strike Drones
In a continued push to modernize U.S. maritime capabilities, the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the U.S. Navy are collaborating to acquire long-range drones designed for offensive and reconnaissance missions at sea. As reported in the February 2026 Breaking Defense article titled “DIU, Navy Seek Long-Range Drones For Maritime Strikes”, the initiative reflects the Pentagon’s broader strategic focus on deterring increasingly sophisticated naval threats, particularly from near-peer adversaries.
The effort centers around expanding the Navy’s ability to deliver precision strikes deep into contested maritime environments without exposing manned platforms. According to Breaking Defense, the DIU has issued a Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) seeking autonomous aircraft systems capable of traveling 500 nautical miles while carrying a 60-pound payload. These systems would be tasked with locating, identifying, and ultimately attacking enemy vessels in so-called “strictly maritime strike missions.”
Officials involved in the program have emphasized the importance of modularity, affordability, and rapid fielding. Drawing on commercial innovation — a hallmark of the DIU’s approach — the Navy aims to accelerate development timelines and bypass traditional procurement hurdles. Among the desired traits listed in the DIU’s solicitation are autonomous takeoff and landing, low observable profiles, and the use of existing standard Navy communications payloads.
As strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific intensifies, military planners are increasingly focused on distributed maritime operations to complicate adversary targeting and enhance survivability of U.S. forces. The long-range drone effort complements other Navy initiatives aimed at increasing the fleet’s lethality and operational reach, including the development of unmanned surface vessels and advancements in undersea platforms.
This latest solicitation underscores the Pentagon’s growing reliance on unmanned systems as force multipliers in contested theaters. While still in its early stages, the maritime drone program represents a substantial investment in next-generation capabilities that could reshape naval warfare by decreasing dependence on manned vessels in high-risk missions.
The DIU and Navy have not disclosed specific vendors or a projected timeline for fielding an operational system, but the emphasis on leveraging existing technologies from the commercial sector suggests the potential for relatively rapid development. As the initiative moves forward, it is likely to receive close scrutiny from defense analysts, Congress, and industry observers alike — not only for its technological implications, but for its role in reshaping the Navy’s future force structure.
