The Navy is experimenting with the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC) which are small unmanned surface vehicles in support of naval operations. This craft provides additional warfighting capabilities to the Fleet, augmenting the traditional combatant force with autonomous systems. To provide this capability to the Fleet, the Navy leveraged rapid procurement avenues such as Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT), which provides funding to small, non-traditional businesses to support the warfighter with advanced technology. The Navy has accepted all GARCs that were awarded through APFIT.  The APFIT GARCs have been used by multiple customers supporting experimentation with various payloads and concepts of employment. 

In July 2024, the Navy awarded a production contract. The production baseline includes a variety of changes to include increased range and reliability improvements. The Navy has since designed and procured common modular enclosures containing communications and computing equipment and is expandable to support future capabilities.  In March 2025, the Navy partnered with Fleet stakeholders to demonstrate underway launches of several GARCs from ships. In partnership with various agencies including the Navy’s Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office, Project Overmatch, and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the teams are developing and demonstrating both government and industry-based autonomy solutions to meet Fleet requirements.