EVERETT—The USX-1 Defiant was christened at Everett Ship Repair on Monday, August 11, marking a key ceremonial milestone for unmanned surface vessel developed under DARPA’s No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, that aims to redefine naval operations through fully autonomous, crewless platforms that enhance efficiency and increase lethality in contested environments.
“In the name of the United States of America, I christen thee USX-1 Defiant. Bless this ship and all who operate her,” said Mattie Hanley, Defiant Sponsor, as she christened the ship by breaking a bottle of champaign on the starboard side of the USX-1 Defiant’s deck.
The Defiant stands out as the world’s first ship designed entirely without provisions for human crews, adopting a “clean sheet” approach that eliminates features like bridges, galleys, berthing, heads, passageways, handrails, and life support systems. This unique design provides greater hydrodynamic efficiency, stealth, tamper resistance, survivability against sea states and adversary actions, and a higher payload fraction for modular adaptations.
“The United States of America is a technological and maritime superpower. And that is why Defiant is so important,” said Navy veteran and DARPA Director, Stephen Winchell. “It stands really at the intersection of advanced technology and maritime power. And I’ll add to that manufacturing excellence — all the fundamental elements of our nation’s past, present, and future.”
The 240 metric ton 180-foot vessel boasts a slender 10-to-1 aspect ratio giving it enhanced hydrodynamic efficiency. Besides operating up to 1 year at sea without human intervention with a 90% at-sea reliability, Defiant includes autonomous features such as self-navigation, collision avoidance, weather evasion, autonomous refueling, and dynamic positioning for sideways maneuvering and pier departures without a crew. Its modular open deck can be used for sensors, standard shipping containers, or armaments like BAE Adaptable Deck Launchers and up to 16 Mk 41 missile cells. Additional capabilities include masts with commercial navigation radars and antennas.
“Defiant-class vessels are going to provide cost-effective, survivable, manufacturable, maintainable, long-range, autonomous, distributed platforms, which will create a future of naval lethality, sensing, and logistics,” said Winchell.
Built using commercial off-the-shelf components, the Defiant emphasizes manufacturability in Tier 3 Shipyards like Nichols Brothers Boat Builder, which is located in Freeland on Whidbey Island, allowing for scalable production of distributed fleets at lower costs. Critical systems are housed in removable ISO modules, enabling rapid swaps—such as replacing engines in just 16 hours—while “graceful degradation” ensures sustained performance, such as maintaining 15 knots after a year at sea even with component failures.
The Defiant’s design is rated Sea State 5, meaning it can operate safely at wave heights up to 13 feet and wind speeds of 24 mph.
Lieutenant Commander Tim Boston, Executive Officer, Unmanned Surface Vessel Division (USVDIV) 1, will be leading the attachment operating the Defiant on her maiden voyage. During his speech, he emphasized a paradigm shift in naval warfare leading with unmanned surface vessels like Defiant.
“This vessel represents not just innovation, but a transformation in surface warfare…. We have evolved from sail to steam to nuclear power, from cannons to the Aegis Combat System. Now, with Defiant and future unmanned surface vessels, we’re entering a new era, one that gives our fleet a competitive edge to deter aggression, dominate in combat, and win decisively,” said Boston adding his excitement in the anticipation to integrating Defiant into the Navy’s fleet operation.
Below are some key production milestones that led up to Monday’s ceremony:
- 2020: DARPA launched NOMARS to explore unmanned ship designs
- 2022: SERCO awarded contract to build and design Defiant.
- September 2024: Successful test of autonomous refueling with USVs Mariner and Ranger simulating Defiant’s system.
- January 2025: Additional at-sea refueling testing in collaboration with the U.S. Navy.
- February 2025: Defiant construction completed at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Whidbey Island.
- March 4, 2025: Official launch of Defiant into water for testing.
- Spring 2025: Two months of dockside and open-ocean testing commences.
- August 11, 2025: Christening of Defiant at Everett Ship Repair marking readiness for advance sea operation.
Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02), whose district is home to Nichols Brothers Boat Builder and Everett Ship Repair, spoke on the Defiant’s economic benefits for the Pacific Northwest.
“The jobs created by this project create concrete, very real impacts in the communities they serve,” said Larsen. “This construction of the Defiant, it represents groceries on the tables of hardworking families. It represents school supplies and backpacks. It represents gas in minivans.”
Larsen described Defiant’s design as transformative stating, “It’s a first of its kind autonomous maritime platform with the potential to really transform the way the ships are designed, built, and maintained.”
The Defiant is a working prototype which Serco CEO Tom Watson told the Lynnwood Times he is hopeful that the Navy will request bids for mass production creating jobs in the region.
During the ceremony, Watson described the Defiant as the world’s first no-manning required ship, redefining naval architecture by eliminating human-centric features to unlock new efficiencies, endurance, and operational capabilities.
Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Serco specializes in providing outsource services to governments and organizations. For North America, the company focuses on engineering and information technology.
Key partners who brought Defiant to life were Caterpillar Power Systems providing diesel engines, Leonardo DRS who supplied the electrical motors, Submersions Group for the navigational autonomy package, Precise Power Systems for integrating the MMRs and AMRs, Beier Integrated Systems for the machinery control systems, and Thrustmasters of Texas who provided the propulsion systems.
Gavin Higgins, CEO of Nichols Brothers Boat Builders and Everett Ship Repair, thanked DARPA’s Dr. Greg Avicola for his visionary leadership and Serco for the opportunity to build Defiant.
“The build part only came after years of design development, which we were very appreciative to have been involved with,” said Higgins. “I’d also personally would like to thank the Nichols build team, particularly Luke Reed, the project manager, and Jim Shea, the construction manager, and everybody else on the Nichols team that built such a truly. beautiful boat.”
Higgins emphasized the importance of how innovation in his Tier 3 Shipyard by building the Defiant has enhanced Nichols Brothers as a strategic manufacturing asset to U.S. Navy readiness.
“We look forward to the opportunity to incorporate the lessons learned from this build and with the use of robotics and automation, demonstrate that shipyards the size of Nichols Brothers can be significant suppliers of these to become very important ships to the US Navy and the defense of our country,” said Higgins.
DARPA Director Stephen Winchell reinforced Higgin’s sentiment on readiness stating, “Again, the ship [Defiant] can be built and maintained at nearly any port facility or Tier 3 shipyard out of commercial components, and that unlocks huge untapped elements of the U.S. industrial base, both here and in many other shipyards around the country.”
DARPA is an acronym for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Founded in 1958, it is an independent research and development agency within the United States Department of Defense where the best and brightest in the country work on cutting-edge top-secret projects that revolutionize industry and national security — paradigm shifts in the human experience.
DARPA research in the 1960s brought the internet to homes in the 1990s, it invented GPS in the 1970s which became publicly available in the 1980s and is now essential to navigation apps and ride-sharing services, and cloud computing is because of DARPA research.
Winchill shared how his team at DARPA successfully took all the performance and technical requirements for Defiant and delivered.
“Greg and his team tackled all of these things simultaneously,” said Winchill. “They didn’t take a little bite out of the elephant. They had to swallow the elephant whole. And so, you know, hats off to the team, because none of those things on their own, none of those innovations on their own are easy, and together, they’re massive. But each one of them was required to make the whole thing happen and to really be transformative.”
Dr. Greg Avicola, NOMARS Program Manager at DARPA, expressed gratitude to his support team and specifically Mike Maloney for exhaustive efforts, joking about the team checking in on him ensuring he was “sleeping” and “eating.”
“Mike Maloney, he, I don’t know if we keep records of the hardest working person, hardest working VP on any DARPA program, but I guarantee it’s that man right there,” said Avicola. “He has spent many months every day, day and shine, getting this ship ready for over six months.”
He reflected on the rarity of completing a DARPA program from start to near-finish and hinted at an upcoming “grueling test campaign,” positioning Defiant as a “tough little ship” defying traditional manned designs.
“In a couple weeks, she’s going to leave the beautiful Pacific Northwest and begin a grueling test campaign,” said Avicola. “And I’m not going to spoil the story for you on what we’re going to do, but if you pay attention in the news, I think you’re going to see a lot of Defiant news in the upcoming months.”
Editor’s Note: Article updated 12:31 p.m., August 14, 2025, to replace “Bear Fire Radio” with the correct vendor name of “Beier Integrated Systems.”
Author: Mario Lotmore
