Leidos Australia launches into Australia-Pacific maritime autonomy domain with new uncrewed surface vessel

MELBOURNE, Sept. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos has commenced the Australian build of Sea Archer, a next-generation small uncrewed surface vessel (USV). This marks a major step forward in bringing Leidos' proven autonomous technology and maritime systems portfolio to the Indo-Pacific region while supporting AUKUS objectives and the Australian Defence Force's mission needs.

The move into local manufacturing of autonomous vessels fast-tracks proven U.S. capability to Australia, harnessing Leidos' 50-year heritage with the U.S. Navy and its record of more than 120,000 fully autonomous nautical miles at sea.

At the heart of Sea Archer is Leidos' advanced autonomy platform, LAVA, which enables high-speed, long-range, and smart mission execution across diverse maritime environments. Seamlessly integrated with Leidos' broader battle management technologies — including ADEPT and AlphaMosaic, which harness AI to support distributed, autonomous fleet operations — Sea Archer embodies the future of naval capability: intelligent, adaptable and affordable.

Built for speed, endurance and multi-mission payloads, Sea Archer can reach sprint speeds up to 40 knots and has a range of 1,500 nautical miles. With a flexible payload bay capacity of more than 900kg, Sea Archer can support a wide range of mission options, including strike, logistics resupply, ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), and electromagnetic deception operations.

The Australian production of Sea Archer will use local capability across the supply chain — from build to payload integration, autonomy software design and ship maintenance — supporting a robust sovereign ecosystem, rapid production and sustainment. NSW Central Coast-based Oceans Rivers Lakes has been appointed to build the first aluminium vessel and construction is already underway.

Leidos Australia's technical team will lead the integration of its autonomy software platform, which has already been successfully deployed across 12 different USV platforms.

Leidos Australia Chief Executive, Paul Chase said, "Given Australia's vast northern approaches, platforms with coverage, endurance and agility are critical. The capability to monitor large areas, detect security threats, navigate hazardous environments and provide continuous uncrewed support enhances our nation's security posture, especially in today's geostrategic environment."

"We're aiming to deliver a rapid production capability, and because of its easy-to-build aluminium hull, can have Sea Archer built at multiple shipyards across Australia. This approach will allow us to quickly deliver flexible, adaptable and affordable maritime solutions, using our fleet or customer vessels, to support mission needs," he added.

Along with Sea Archer, Leidos' Sea Systems portfolio includes operationally proven medium USVs—Sea Hunter, Sea Hawk, Ranger and Mariner—as well as a range of undersea systems including Sea Castle, Sea Spector and Sea Dart, a high-performance, low-cost, flexible and adaptable uncrewed undersea vessel. Sea Archer is currently undergoing sea trials in the U.S. and is expected to be mission-ready by 2026.

Learn more about Leidos' autonomous maritime systems here.

About AUKUS

AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It focuses on promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific region through defence cooperation, including the sharing of advanced military technologies. AUKUS has two main pillars: Pillar 1 involves Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, while Pillar 2 focuses on collaborating on advanced technologies like maritime autonomy, artificial intelligence, cyber, and hypersonics.

About Leidos

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Leidos Australia is a trusted partner to the Australian Government, leveraging global experience and a network of partners to deliver solutions that support intelligence, defence, aviation, border protection, and health markets while protecting and improving the Australian way of life. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $16.7 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025. For more information, visit www.leidos.com.

Certain statements in this announcement constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These statements are not guarantees of future results or occurrences. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the "Risk Factors" set forth in Leidos' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Leidos does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements were made.

Media enquiries

Stephen Browningstephen.browning@au.leidos.com

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