Role & capabilities
- Naval autonomy research
- Modular mission carriage
- Primary domain
- Sea surface
- System type
- Uncrewed surface vessel
- Developer / manufacturer
- Austal USA / L3Harris
- Origin / production countries
- United States
- Other names
- Vanguard USV; Vanguard OUSV
- Variants / configurations
- Not distinguished in reviewed sources
- Operators / programme customers
- US Navy — experimental programme
Evidence & current status
Delivered experimental vessels remain distinguished from operational fleet acceptance and future production programmes.
Vanguard is a US Navy experimental surface vessel developed and built by Austal USA and L3Harris. NAVSEA describes it as the first Navy USV built from the keel up for uncrewed operation, distinguishing its development route from earlier converted vessels in the Overlord programme. It should also be kept separate from the Sea Hunter trimaran line.
The Navy announced its christening in May 2024 and described its purpose as expanding uncrewed testing, experimentation and development. Austal's current autonomy page reports delivery in that same month. Delivery of an experimental vessel establishes a real customer asset, but does not imply that a future production fleet has completed operational qualification.
Austal's 2025 sustainability report describes the approximately 60-metre modified crewboat design associated with its Overlord work. Public materials reviewed here do not establish a single payload, range or endurance figure for Vanguard's successive trial configurations. Its changing mission equipment and control integration should be recorded through dated programme updates. In particular, the aggregate mileage of several Overlord vessels cannot be treated as Vanguard's maximum range, and procurement ambitions for other medium or large USVs cannot be counted as orders for this specific design.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration | Purpose-built Overlord experimental USV | Published programme baseline; not a generic figure for other USVs. Source |
| Hull / propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Dimensions | Approximately 60-metre design | Austal's Overlord design description; detailed as-delivered hull particulars not established here. Source |
| Displacement / mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Endurance | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Range | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Speed | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Sea state / environment | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Communications / control | Uncrewed operations and naval autonomy experimentation | Published programme baseline; not a generic figure for other USVs. Source |
| Launch / deployment | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
Documented milestones
Navy announces christening
NAVSEA documented Vanguard and its experimental Overlord role.
Read the announcement
Publication history
- — Published reference update.
Suggest a correction to this entry
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.