US Navy wants more visible role for drone boats as one deploys for the first time

While the U.S. Navy has been making significant investments in uncrewed boats in recent years, key questions have remained about how the service plans to employ and distribute the new capability. But in testimony before a congressionally authorized panel earlier this month, the Navy’s No. 2 officer shed new light on the value that medium unmanned surface vessels , or MUSVs, could bring to the fleet, particularly as persistently forward-stationed assets and part of tailorable mission packages available to commanders. Adm. James Kilby, the vice chief of naval operations, cited the recent…