US Army Autonomous Watercraft Modernization: HavocAI and the Pacific Contested Logistics Strategy

Technologies
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The United States Army is rapidly modernizing its maritime logistics capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region to address critical shortfalls in its watercraft fleet and the challenges of contested logistics. This modernization effort involves the integration of autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) into existing formations, spearheaded by partnerships with defense technology companies such as HavocAI. The Army’s strategy focuses on enhancing force protection, increasing logistical capacity, and reducing the risk to human operators in potential conflict zones.

Source Post: HavocAI LinkedIn — US Army wants up to 100 drone boats to fill watercraft gap in Pacific

The Army Watercraft Shortfall

The U.S. Army’s watercraft fleet, designed to transport personnel and equipment across deep oceans, shallow coastal waters, and inland waterways, has experienced a significant decline in readiness and capacity. According to an October 2024 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the Army’s Pacific-based fleet shrank from 134 vessels in 2018 to approximately 70 vessels by 2024 (Government Accountability Office, 2024). Concurrently, the fully mission-capable rate of these remaining vessels dropped from over 70% in 2020 to less than 40% in 2024 (Government Accountability Office, 2024). Army policy establishes a fully mission-capable goal of 90% for ground equipment including watercraft, making the current rate a significant gap against stated requirements.

This shortfall poses a substantial risk to the Army’s ability to meet mission requirements in the Indo-Pacific, a theater characterized by vast maritime distances and the potential for anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) environments. In response, the Army reversed its previous divestment strategy. In February 2024, the service activated the 5th Transportation Company (Composite Watercraft Company) at Yokohama North Dock in Japan, the first new overseas watercraft unit in decades, operating 13 vessels (Army Times, 2024). The Army has plans to add two more composite watercraft companies in fiscal years 2027 and 2029 and intends to withdraw and activate seven vessels from Army Prepositioned Stocks in fiscal year 2027 (Stars and Stripes, 2026).

Additionally, the Army’s 8th TSC is contracting with two U.S.-flagged crewed offshore support vessels, crewed by Army mariners, and is actively pulling stored watercraft out of prepositioned stocks to position them forward in the Pacific. The Army is also expected to receive six more Maneuver Support Vessels (Light), all prepositioned forward in Japan (Defense News, 2026).

In May 2026, Gen. Ronald Clark, head of U.S. Army Pacific, stated at the Land Forces Pacific symposium: “We can always use more watercraft. Any commander that tells you he doesn’t need more is probably shooting beneath the target” (Stars and Stripes, 2026).

Integration of Autonomous Surface Vessels

To augment its crewed fleet, the Army is pursuing large-scale deployment of autonomous drone boats. Maj. Gen. Gavin J. Gardner, commanding general of the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, stated that the command has requested industry to deliver an autonomous vessel for testing by summer 2027, with the long-term goal of rapidly building a fleet of 30 to 100 drone boats (Defense News, 2026). Gardner and his senior enlisted adviser, Command Sgt. Maj. Montrell Kea, specified that these future vessels should be heavy-duty, capable of carrying eight to 10 standard-size shipping containers, and would be controlled from 8th TSC headquarters in Hawaii to reduce mariner manpower and travel duty status costs (Defense News, 2026).

Gardner articulated the intended operational concept as a hybrid model: autonomous vessels would handle routine port-to-port delivery, while manned Army watercraft would execute operational maneuver to deliver forces and equipment directly to beaches and austere locations (Defense News, 2026). The envisioned geographic scope spans the entire U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility, with autonomous vessels berthed across Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Singapore, and Thailand.

The push for autonomy is supported by legislative and departmental initiatives. In June 2026, the House Armed Services Committee’s Fiscal Year 2027 chairman’s mark directed the Army to evaluate the use of unmanned surface vessels to escort its crewed watercraft, citing concerns about “organic defensive capabilities, increasing vulnerability to asymmetric threats, unmanned systems, and enemy fires” (USNI News, 2026a). Lawmakers requested a briefing on the Army’s consideration for escort USVs by February 1, 2027, and a separate briefing on the Army’s watercraft recapitalization strategy (USNI News, 2026a).

Simultaneously, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) released a solicitation for the Autonomous Resupply Vehicle (ARV-S), seeking small, low-cost logistics transports capable of autonomous maneuver, carrying at least two 20-foot shipping containers, and operating over a 1,600 nautical mile round trip in sea states 4 to 6 (Naval News, 2026). The solicitation noted that “end strength may require dozens or more ARV-S’s to be produced quickly” and required any bid to “have a realistic capability to scale production.”

HavocAI: Company Profile and Capabilities

Attribute Detail
Founded 2024
Headquarters Providence, Rhode Island
Co-Founders Paul Lwin (CEO), Joe Turner (COO)
Total Funding ~$200 million (as of May 2026)
Series A $100 million (May 2026)
Employees 200+
ASVs Built/Deployed 100+
DoD Deliveries 30+ vessels
Autonomous Hours 25,000+
Key Partnerships Lockheed Martin, Hanwha Defense USA, SAIC, Leidos, Anduril, DIU, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy

HavocAI, founded in 2024 by U.S. Navy veterans Paul Lwin and Joe Turner, specializes in software-defined, all-domain collaborative autonomy, enabling a single operator to supervise large numbers of autonomous assets across sea, air, and land (Forbes, 2026). The company’s approach does not require building new hulls from scratch; instead, it retrofits existing or commercial vessels with its proprietary AI-driven control system, which it describes as a “software-defined hardware” model (HavocAI, 2026b).

The Havoc software suite consists of four primary components: Havoc C2 for one-to-many control of distributed autonomous assets; Havoc Insights for AI-driven data fusion and analytics; Havoc Connect for resilient peer-to-peer communications in degraded, intermittent, or denied (DDIL) environments; and Havoc OS for edge-level autonomy on individual platforms (HavocAI, 2026b). The company has accumulated more than 25,000 hours of autonomous operations and testing and has built and deployed more than 100 autonomous surface vessels globally across the United States, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific (HavocAI, 2026a).

In May 2026, HavocAI closed a $100 million Series A funding round led by Cobalt Capital and Boardman Bay Capital Management, bringing total capital raised to approximately $200 million since the company’s founding in early 2024 (HavocAI, 2026a). The round included participation from new investors CCM Capital Markets, Clear Street LLC, Meet Perry, Mute Ventures, Soren Ventures, SAIC, and JA Green, with continued support from existing investors Outlander VC, Scout VC, B Capital, Lockheed Martin, Taiwania Capital, UP.Partners, and The Veteran Fund (HavocAI, 2026a). Vanderbilt University’s endowment also participated. The board of HavocAI includes former Congressman Devin Nunes, chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (HavocAI, 2026a).

HavocAI’s vessel line includes the 14-foot Rampage USV (approximately $100,000 per unit), the 38-foot Seahound, the 42-foot Kaikoa, and the 100-foot Atlas (The Defense Post, 2025). The U.S. Navy purchased a dozen Rampage platforms following the “Silent Swarm” trials in summer 2025 (The Defense Post, 2025). The company has also won three U.S. Army xTech competitions, including xTechPacific and xTechOverwatch, receiving $6 million in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards (HavocAI, 2026a).

In January 2026, HavocAI and Hanwha Defense USA formalized a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop 200-foot autonomous surface vessels under the U.S. Government’s Modular Attack Surface Craft solicitation program, with potential production at Hanwha Philly Shipyard (Hanwha Defense USA, 2026). The company has also been sanctioned by China twice — in December 2024 and April 2025 — for its role in supplying weapons systems to Taiwan (The Defense Post, 2025).

Online Presence:

Operational Demonstrations in the Indo-Pacific

The U.S. Army has actively tested autonomous maritime capabilities in recent Indo-Pacific exercises, with HavocAI’s Rampage USVs featuring prominently.

Balikatan 2026 (Philippines, May 2026): During the annual U.S.-Philippine bilateral exercise, Army forces used Rampage drones in a “Littoral Deep Battle” demonstration in the Northern Philippines near the South China Sea and Luzon Strait. The drones were tasked with identifying and cueing artillery, missiles, and other attack drones to destroy a simulated enemy landing operation (USNI News, 2026b).

Salaknib 2026 (Philippines, June 2026): Soldiers from the 125th Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, deployed at least three HavocAI Rampage USVs in Casiguran Sound to escort a U.S. Army Logistics Support Vessel transporting Philippine Army personnel and vehicles — including armored personnel carriers — more than 260 miles to Port Casiguran (Military Times, 2026). The autonomous boats established a maritime security screen, navigating autonomously and using onboard sensors to identify potential threats and relay information to onshore personnel. According to Ben Outlaw, an industry partner representative supporting the operation: “These boats provide situational awareness to commanders with their ability to find, fix, target, kill, and confirm. With the information the USV provides, the commander’s decision-making process has been compressed from hours to seconds” (Military Times, 2026).

RIMPAC 2026 (Hawaii, June–July 2026): HavocAI is scheduled to participate in the Rim of the Pacific exercise, the world’s largest international maritime exercise, bringing together 31 nations, approximately 40 surface ships, five submarines, 140 aircraft, and more than 25,000 personnel. HavocAI will demonstrate how autonomous systems can work together across air and maritime missions as part of the Naval Postgraduate School’s Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) distributed advanced manufacturing experiment. Havoc’s autonomous surface vessels will autonomously resupply U.S. and allied nation surface vessels in a first-of-its-kind multinational autonomous logistics operation (PR Newswire, 2026).

Key Personnel

Paul Lwin — Co-Founder and CEO, HavocAI

Paul Lwin, 40, is the Co-Founder and CEO of HavocAI. A former Burmese refugee who emigrated to the United States at age 10, Lwin became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and served as a Weapons Systems Officer and Engineering Test Flight Officer in the U.S. Navy, flying combat missions in Operations New Dawn and Enduring Freedom (Forbes, 2026). He was named Test Flight Officer of the Year in 2017 and received the Air Medal for Combat (three times), the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal (LinkedIn, 2026a).

Lwin holds a Bachelor of Science from the United States Naval Academy, a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland, a certificate from the United States Naval Test Pilot School, a Master of Science in Computer Science (Cloud Computing and Machine Learning) from Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA from the Yale School of Management (LinkedIn, 2026a). Prior to founding HavocAI, he served as Chief Technology Officer at Exocetus Autonomous Systems, Senior Program Manager at Joby Aviation, and Director of Government Partnerships at REGENT Craft Inc. (LinkedIn, 2026a).

Joe Turner — Co-Founder and COO, HavocAI

Joe Turner, 42, is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of HavocAI. He is a former Nuclear Propulsion Officer in the U.S. Navy and a serial entrepreneur with a background in mechanical engineering. Turner co-founded HavocAI alongside Lwin in early 2024 (The Defense Post, 2025).

Maj. Gen. Gavin J. Gardner — Commanding General, 8th Theater Sustainment Command

Maj. Gen. Gavin J. Gardner assumed command of the 8th Theater Sustainment Command at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, on July 3, 2024. He is a third-generation Army veteran and native of Georgia, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps in 1992. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Georgia, a Master of Science in Logistics Management from the Florida Institute of Technology, and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College (U.S. Army, 2025).

Gardner previously served as Director for Logistics & Engineering (J4) at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (2022–2024), Commanding General of the Joint Munitions Command (2020–2022), and Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade. His awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), and the Bronze Star Medal (U.S. Army, 2025).

Command Sgt. Maj. Montrell L. Kea — Senior Enlisted Adviser, 8th TSC

Command Sgt. Maj. Montrell L. Kea assumed duties as the 8th Theater Sustainment Command Command Sergeant Major on April 1, 2026. A native of Wilmington, North Carolina, Kea serves as the senior enlisted adviser to Maj. Gen. Gardner (U.S. Army, 2026).

Gen. Ronald P. Clark — Commanding General, U.S. Army Pacific

Gen. Ronald P. Clark assumed command of U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) on November 8, 2024. He is the senior Army officer in the Indo-Pacific region and has publicly emphasized the need for additional watercraft capacity in the theater (U.S. Army Pacific, n.d.).

Hope Hodge Seck — Journalist, Defense News

Hope Hodge Seck is the author of the Defense News article that prompted the HavocAI LinkedIn post. She is an award-winning freelance investigative reporter who has covered the U.S. military and national defense since 2009. She is a former managing editor at Military.com and a former vice president of the Military Reporters and Editors association (LinkedIn, 2026b).

References

Army Times. (2024, February 12). Army activates first overseas watercraft unit in decades. Army activates first overseas watercraft unit in decades

Defense News. (2026, June 29). US Army wants up to 100 drone boats to fill watercraft gap in Pacific. US Army wants up to 100 drone boats to fill watercraft gap in Pacific

Forbes. (2026, May 12). Meet The Former Burmese Refugee Vying To Be The U.S. Military’s Go-To Drone Guy. These Navy Vets Are Betting Their Drone Software Maker Havoc Can Win Over The U.S. Military

Government Accountability Office. (2024, October). Army Watercraft: Actions Needed to Optimize Small but Critical Fleet (GAO-25-106387). https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-106387.pdf

Hanwha Defense USA. (2026, January 8). Hanwha and HavocAI Formalize Partnership to Develop ASV. Hanwha Defense USA

HavocAI. (2026a, May 12). Havoc Raises $100M Series A to Power the Future of All-Domain Collaborative Autonomy. Medium. https://medium.com/@HavocAI/havoc-raises-100m-series-a-to-power-the-future-of-all-domain-collaborative-autonomy-e6e73be4ac23

HavocAI. (2026b). Havoc AI Official Website. https://www.havocai.com/

LinkedIn. (2026a). Paul Lwin Profile. Paul Lwin - HavocAI | LinkedIn

LinkedIn. (2026b). Hope Hodge Seck Profile. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hope-hodge-seck-50518a4

Military Times. (2026, June 22). US Army tests autonomous boats during Philippine exercise. US Army tests autonomous boats during Philippine exercise

Naval News. (2026, June 9). Pentagon Eyes New USV for Indo-Pacific Contested Logistics. Pentagon Eyes New USV for Indo-Pacific Contested Logistics - Naval News

PR Newswire. (2026, June 23). Havoc to Demonstrate Autonomous Systems Alongside U.S. and Allied Forces at RIMPAC 2026. Havoc to Demonstrate Autonomous Systems Alongside U.S. and Allied Forces at RIMPAC 2026

Stars and Stripes. (2026, May 15). Army steps up effort to field more watercraft across the Indo-Pacific. Army steps up effort to field more watercraft across the Indo-Pacific | Stars and Stripes

The Defense Post. (2025, October 10). HavocAI Ramps Up Military Drone Boat Production With $85M Boost. HavocAI Ramps Up Military Drone Boat Production With $85M Boost

U.S. Army. (2025, March 25). Major General Gavin J. Gardner Biography. https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2025/03/25/7611287e/8tsc-mg-gardner-bio-25mar25.pdf

U.S. Army. (2026, April 1). 8th Theater Sustainment Command Change of Responsibility Ceremony. 8th Theater Sustainment Command Change of Responsibility Ceremony | Article | The United States Army

U.S. Army Pacific. (n.d.). Gen. Ronald P. Clark Biography. https://www.usarpac.army.mil/Our-Team/Our-Leaders/Biography-Display/Article/3219624/gen-ronald-p-clark/

USNI News. (2026a, June 1). House Wants the Army to Consider Sea Drones for Watercraft Escort Missions. https://news.usni.org/2026/06/01/house-wants-the-army-to-consider-sea-drones-for-watercraft-escort-missions

USNI News. (2026b, June 18). U.S. Army Uses Drone Boats to Escort Logistics Craft in Philippine Drill. https://news.usni.org/2026/06/18/u-s-army-uses-drone-boats-to-escort-logistics-craft-in-philippine-drill

*AI generated