The Navy has yet to fully implement a series of Government Accountability Office recommendations issued more than a year ago to improve the development and fielding of robotic and autonomous systems for the service's future hybrid fleet, the watchdog reported today.

GAO delivered three recommendations in March 2025, advising the Navy to reorganize its multidomain RAS capabilities into a portfolio with consistent leadership, implement capability-centric and iterative development approaches and clearly define the roles of key RAS stakeholders. 

Upon delivery of this report, the Navy “orally concurred” with the suggestions, GAO states. But in the intervening 14 months, the service has taken "some steps" toward implementation but has not fully addressed the recommendations, according to today's report.

Notably, the Navy kicked off its service-wide acquisition overhaul in December by establishing of a new robotic and autonomous systems program office, PAE RAS, consolidating control of nearly 50 different programs under a single acquisition official.

The service’s stated plans for PAE RAS appear to align with GAO’s recommendations.

The Navy’s future fleet plans include the incorporation of increasing numbers of autonomous systems and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle’s signature strategic guidance prominently features unmanned systems. However, the service has not addressed barriers standing in the way of this goal, GAO found in its initial report.

Key among these challenges is inconsistent top-level leadership and shifting priorities which “impeded the Navy’s progress establishing an organizational structure for RAS and making efficient investments to achieve goals,” according to the report.

GAO also flagged “domain- and platform-centric approaches” as an impediment to capability development.

“Without consistent leadership to advocate for RAS investments, the Navy’s organizational structure and processes for requirements, resourcing, and acquisition generally remained siloed by domain and focused on traditional platform approaches,” the report states. “Under this approach, RAS compete for resources with traditional ships, submarines, and aircraft carriers -- many of which are priority major weapons acquisition programs -- leaving little funding available to develop and field RAS.”