Smith was removed from that position “due to a loss of confidence based on a complaint substantiated by an Office of the Naval Inspector General investigation,” officials wrote in a press release, adding that the sea service “maintains the highest standards for leaders and holds them accountable when those standards are not met.”

The release did not provide details about the nature of the complaint that was made against Smith and substantiated by the IG. DefenseScoop has reached out to the Navy for more information.

According to the announcement, Smith was removed from his position as PEO by Brett Seidle, acting assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition. Melissa Kirkendall, executive director for PEO USC, has temporarily assumed the duties of program executive officer. Smith has been temporarily reassigned to the staff of Naval Sea Systems Command.

The PEO for unmanned and small combatants plays a key role in the Navy’s pursuit of robotic platforms, including uncrewed surface vessels and unmanned underwater vehicles, which are key to the service’s push to increase the capacity of the fleet for a variety of mission sets and keep sailors out of harm’s way. The official who holds that position is the acquisition authority for the “design, development, build, maintenance and modernization of unmanned maritime systems, mine warfare systems, special warfare systems, expeditionary warfare systems and small surface combatants,” according to the Navy.

Smith had served in the PEO USC role since June 2023.

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Robotic platforms not only keep sailors out of harm’s way, but they provide opportunities to expand the sea service’s warfighting capacity faster and at less cost than building traditional Navy vessels. They’re a key element of Project 33 and the CNO Navigation Plan that was released last year.

Plans for the upcoming industry engagement, slated for June 17-18 in the Washington metro area, were laid out in a special notice posted Friday on Sam.gov.

“The Future USV program will be an open ocean, 25+ knot, high endurance, non-exquisite, autonomous vessel. The vessel will be built to commercial standards and will provide the interfaces, payload deck area, and support for two forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) containerized payloads, each weighing 80,000 [pounds],” officials wrote.

The Navy has already been experimenting with fairly large USV prototypes in recent years, such as the Sea Hunter, Sea Hawk, Mariner and Ranger.

The service has also been conducting market research. Last year, it released a request for information on medium unmanned surface vehicles, indicating that officials were interested in vessels less than 200 feet in length and under 500 tons displacement.

That RFI noted that the unmanned maritime systems program office (PMS 406) — which is also hosting next month’s industry engagement on Future USV — was “contemplating an accelerated approach with industry to leverage existing, manned or unmanned surface ship designs that can be modified to enable rapid delivery of an unmanned or optionally unmanned surface ship capability.”

The special notice about the Future USV program didn’t identify the specific types of payloads the Navy wants the platforms to carry or the missions they will perform.

The service had previously envisioned acquiring medium USVs for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions as well as larger USVs with offensive strike capabilities. However, earlier this year, Rear Adm. William Daly suggested that officials may now be focusing on a platform that can be outfitted with containers capable of carrying both types of payloads, according to news reports.

Although the upcoming industry briefing is restricted to U.S. contractors, more information about the Navy’s plans for the Future USV program could become publicly available when the Defense Department releases its fiscal 2026 budget justification documents in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, John Phelan, the new secretary of the Navy, has indicated he’s keen on adding uncrewed platforms to the fleet.

“The unique capabilities that unmanned systems bring to the naval and joint force are a tremendous force multiplier, and I believe the Department of the Navy should appropriately and adequately resource the right solutions and doctrine, organization, training, personnel and facilities that support these capabilities, particularly in the Indo-Pacific,” he wrote in response to advance policy questions from senators ahead of his confirmation hearing in February.

“By providing persistent surveillance, intelligence gathering, defensive, and strike capabilities, unmanned systems will enhance lethality and serve as a strong and efficient deterrent to quickly respond to provocation while reducing risks and maintaining flexibility in the region,” Phelan wrote, noting that such tools could help the United States prevail in a potential future conflict against a peer competitor such as China.

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Speaking Monday at an ASNE symposium, Rob Iera, principal assistant program manager for unmanned maritime systems, PMS 406, revealed the plan to hold them in “about a month” and noted they will “cover the breadth of the Navy’s unmanned technologies.”

Naval Sea Systems Command will issue a formal announcement on Sam.gov or another platform “pretty soon,” Rear Adm. Casey Moton, program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, later told DefenseScoop during a meeting with reporters at the conference.

Program offices such as PMS 406 have previously held industry days. However, “what we’re going to do this time is a broader one. We’re going to try and basically give a pretty wide breadth of on all of [information on] our unmanned programs and autonomy,” Moton said.

This was partly driven by Section 862 of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, according to Moton.

Among other provisions, the legislation directed that no later than March 1, 2023 — and every 180 days thereafter — the military departments must conduct an outreach event to “collaborate with the private sector on present current and future opportunities with respect to key advanced system development areas” and “raise awareness” within the private sector of key advanced system development areas, capability needs and existing and potential requirements related to those areas.

For the Department of the Navy, that applies to unmanned surface vessels; unmanned underwater vessels; unmanned deployable mobile ocean systems; unmanned deployable fixed ocean systems; and autonomous unmanned aircraft systems.

Officials must “identify related and potentially related existing, planned, or potential military requirements,” including urgent and emergent operational needs; potentially related needs or gaps in the capabilities of the military department to carry out the missions of the military department, including warfighting and combat support capabilities; identify and describe related and potentially related exercise, demonstration, or experimentation opportunities.

They must also provide details about related existing, planned, or potential acquisition plans and strategies and funding opportunities.

The annual policy bill “required not just the Navy, but the Air Force and Army to also do periodic industry days on advanced system development. And so I would say, you know, we were already doing industry days, but we are also doing the one that’s coming up … to satisfy the requirement of statute, right. And then we would then do these every 180 days,” Moton said.

“As I looked at the language, I think Congress was making a completely fair statement that there’s just lots going on in unmanned across the services. And you know, once every six months, get as many industry [members] as we can in the room and talk to them about where things are or where everything is in the acquisition process. I think it’s a great idea. So, we’re going to embrace it,” he added.

The Navy’s future unmanned systems will be enabled by a variety of technologies such as artificial intelligence, sensors, navigation tools, energy systems, and in some cases weapons.

DefenseScoop asked Moton if the upcoming event will also be open to companies that make these types of supporting technologies for robotic systems, not just platform builders.

“I think we’re planning on opening it up pretty broad, right. And again, the [NDAA] statute sort of encourages that,” he said. “We’re, I think, probably trying to keep it pretty broad for industry to participate.”

The upcoming industry days will likely be held in the Washington, D.C. area but there will be options for virtual attendance, according to Moton.

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