Sea Machines Robotics has announced that its STEAMRACER-class autonomous surface ship has advanced into the U.S. Navy’s final competitive evaluation phase under the Modular Attack Surface Combatant (MASC) programme.
In an update published on 18 February 2026, Sea Machines said it is positioned to provide a purpose-built autonomous vessel based on its existing autonomy technology, which it said has been developed and deployed over the past decade.
The company has invested more than $50 million in venture-backed capital since 2015 to develop and field a fully integrated autonomy stack, aimed at addressing what it described as one of the key technical challenges for unmanned surface vessels: reliable software and hardware integration at scale.
The STEAMRACER-class platform is designed to support fully unmanned maritime operations and is built around what it described as a hardened, AI-enabled remote command architecture. The company said the ship is intended to offer high speed, extended endurance, modular open-deck payload capacity and a secure onboard data environment to support distributed naval operations.
Sea Machines stated that while the vessel is designed for unmanned operations, it is also capable of operating in a limited manned configuration for short durations if required. The company said STEAMRACER is being developed through partnerships with multiple U.S. industrial firms, including St. Johns Ship Building, TOTE Services, Ring Power, Incat Crowther and EMI-W&O. It also said Sierra Nevada Corporation will provide its Maritime Advanced Secure Transmission (MAST) solution to support communications and cybersecurity requirements.
Sea Machines described the vessel as aligned with U.S. Navy efforts to expand unmanned surface vessel production and accelerate the fielding of maritime autonomous systems, stating that it is intended to provide what it called a “ready-now” solution.
“Ready now America first solution”
Their words.