A US Navy strike group just deployed with a big drone ship for the first time

• A US Navy aircraft carrier strike group has deployed with a big drone ship for the first time.
• Hung Cao, the acting Navy secretary, said on Wednesday that the drone ship "is a force multiplier."
• The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is expected to sail to the Middle East.

A US Navy aircraft carrier strike group has deployed with a big drone ship for the first time in the service's history.

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said on Wednesday that the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, which recently deployed from its homeport in San Diego, did so with an "unmanned surface vessel," or USV.

"This is the first carrier strike group to ever deploy with a large-size unmanned surface vessel — and this is a force multiplier," Cao said at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting and exposition in Washington, DC.

The US is increasingly integrating naval drones and other autonomous vessels, including larger driverless ships, into its maritime operations as the military looks to pair multibillion-dollar warships with cheaper, attritable systems. Some NATO allies are doing the same.

Small, speedboat-style sea drones in particular have played a crucial role in conflicts around the world in recent years.

Ukraine, for instance, has used explosive-packed sea drones to devastate Russia's fleet in the Black Sea. It has also innovated with its sea drones, arming them with other drones, guns, and missiles.

In the Middle East, the US has long used naval drones for intelligence-gathering purposes. However, during the war against Iran, American forces used the drones to rescue the crew of a helicopter that was shot down and to strike Iranian ports, as Ukraine has done to Russia.

These smaller sea drones are less suitable for operations with heavily armed carrier strike groups compared to medium and larger naval drones because they can't maneuver with the traditional warships or carry the necessary payloads, Austin Gray, the cofounder of Blue Water Autonomy, a US startup making USVs for the Navy, told Business Insider.

Larger USVs can be equipped with missiles, drones, and non-kinetic systems like sensors or electronic jamming equipment, Gray said, allowing them to support and protect the strike group.

Advancements in the field mean there could be many missions available for autonomous ships, such as logistics, refueling, and submarine-hunting, he added.

The Nimitz-class carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt departed San Diego in late September and is sailing across the Pacific. The strike group, which also includes surface warships, is expected to enter the Middle East.

The Navy has two carrier strike groups and an amphibious ready group — a collection of three large flattops, several additional surface warships, and dozens of fighter aircraft — already in the Middle East, where US forces are maintaining a naval blockade against Iranian ports.

Since mid-July, US forces have disabled four commercial vessels said to be sailing in violation of the blockade. Most recently, last weekend, an American fighter jet struck a cargo ship after it left an Iranian port.