NOMARS (No Manning Required, Ship) is a concept for a range of ships and smaller watercraft operating as unmanned surface vessels (USV) for the

US Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

, developed by the

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

(

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

). The USV concept crafts range in size and form. Examples include: *

Sea Hunter ''Sea Hunter'' is an autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USV) launched in 2016 as part of the DARPA Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program. The ship was christened 7 April 2016 in Portland, Oregon. It was design ...

, a DARPA-developed

trimaran A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recrea ...

USV launched in 2016. * A dual hulled platform, proposed in a concept by Austal USA.DARPA’s latest mad science experiment: A ship designed to operate completely without humans
David B. Larter, DefenseNews.com, 2020-01-21 * A single hulled missile ship with a propulsor and steering pod.Here’s the DARPA project it says could pull the Navy a decade forward in unmanned technology
David B. Larter, C4ISRNet.com, 2020-05-07 DARPA NOMARS USX-1 Defiant Refueling Test

DARPA NOMARS USX-1 Defiant Refueling Test

By removing the human element from all ship design considerations, NOMARS will demonstrate significant advantages, to include size, cost (procurement, operations, and sustainment), at-sea reliability, survivability to sea-state, survivability to adversary actions (stealth considerations, resistance to tampering, etc.), and hydrodynamic efficiency (hull optimization without consideration for crew safety or comfort). In 2022, ship designer

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was selected to develop the NOMARS program through building, testing, and demonstrating the first generation ship. In December 2024, NOMARS completed a successful first test of at-sea refueling designed for use with the USV Defiant.

USX-1 Defiant The USX-1 Defiant is a first generation NOMARS prototype that was completed in February 2025 and began sea trials in following month. It was first seen in public in March 2025 near the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island. The ship h ...

, the 180-foot-long, 240-metric ton medium USV, was first seen in public in March 2025 near the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Station (NAS)

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. USX-1 Defiant does not have any mission or combat systems installed onboard and will conduct sea trials in the spring of 2025.

References

{{reflist Unmanned surface vehicles of the United States DARPA projects Autonomous ships Oceanographic instrumentation