U.S. Navy Refuels Seahawk USV Drone from Destroyer to Extend Unmanned Missions Across the Pacific

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Chafee refueled the medium-displacement unmanned surface vessel Seahawk in the Pacific on September 11 using an astern hose arrangement. The 145-ton trimaran had previously received fuel from the oiler USNS Guadalupe and operated with the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group during Rim of the Pacific 2026. The evolution tested how a frontline combatant could sustain an uncrewed vessel without a routine return to its home port, although personnel were aboard Seahawk and the procedure was not a fully autonomous replenishment.