Forging the Undersea Arsenal: How to Build the Autonomous Fleet the US Navy needs to Compete

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Fellow Alex Gilbert, and Senior Research Fellow Jahara Matisek write about how autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) will reshape seabed warfare, subsea competition, and maritime force design by distributing sensing, extending operational reach, absorbing risk, and providing cheap undersea mass against much more expensive systems.   September 21, 2026.