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What is DARPA Pulling Guard?
DARPA describes Pulling Guard as a “guardian on a towline”: a mobile sentry connected to a commercial logistics vessel by a tow. Instead of permanently installing a defense system on every cargo ship, the concept is to bring a separate, unmanned platform along with the ship and detach it before the vessel enters port.
The program is aimed most directly at uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), which can threaten ships on the water. DARPA’s public description also names piracy, terrorism, and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). That does not establish that one configuration can reliably counter every kind of threat: the sensors, software, and effectors would have to be matched to the target and mission.
In DARPA’s description, the escort is meant to detect and neutralize threats before they reach the protected vessel. The public material describes a system under development, not a fielded product with demonstrated combat performance.
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How could a towed platform protect a cargo ship?
The concept combines several parts into a single escort system. A tethered sensing platform can provide an elevated vantage point, while the towed vessel carries or connects the equipment needed to interpret detections, communicate with people overseeing the mission, and respond to a threat.
- Elevated sensing: The program calls for sensing from an elevated platform. RTX says Raytheon’s planned system will include a tethered drone linked to the towed platform.
- Detection and scene interpretation: Sensors and software are intended to detect, track, and help interpret small, fast, agile targets.
- Command and control: A command-and-control (C2) link lets remote personnel supervise the system and coordinate it with the protected ship.
- Effectors: The system is intended to have a way to respond to a threat, but the public descriptions do not specify a final operational effector configuration.
“Drone” can mean either an aerial vehicle or an uncrewed boat. Pulling Guard is not simply a drone: its central element is a towed uncrewed surface platform, with a tethered aerial sensing component included in the Raytheon configuration announced so far. The program’s stated mission includes USVs most directly and also identifies UAVs as a threat category.
Who decides whether the system engages?
A human remains responsible for high-consequence engagement decisions. DARPA says a remote supervisor retains engagement authority; the program’s Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) also requires remote military operators to stay in the loop for high-consequence decisions and preserves command and control with the protected vessel’s master.
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The intended role for autonomy is to help one person supervise multiple systems securely, not to remove human decision-making. The BAA envisions the military providing mission authorities and munitions, while a commercial operator owns and maintains the escort system. Those responsibilities are distinct: operating and maintaining the platform does not itself confer authority to use force.
Why DARPA is pursuing a towable escort
DARPA’s BAA argues that shipping is strategically important and that large vessels are vulnerable while moving through chokepoints. It states that maritime shipping carries “the majority (over 75%) of all goods.” The figure is DARPA’s rationale in its 2025 BAA, not an independently specified estimate of Pulling Guard’s effectiveness.
The BAA also says that assigning a guided-missile destroyer or carrier strike group to every threatened route would not scale: the routes and threats exceed the supply of high-end forces. A detachable escort could instead be assigned to a commercial vessel for a voyage, then loiter offshore and be redeployed to another outbound ship. That is the proposed operating model, not evidence that a network of escorts is already available.
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What design constraints shape the system?
Towing, detaching, and port access
The BAA calls for a system that connects by tow without requiring permanent modifications to the logistics ship. It should detach before port entry, wait offshore between missions, and redeploy quickly to another vessel. This could let commercial operators use the escort without converting each ship into a dedicated warship, but it also makes reliable towing, release, recovery, and coordination essential parts of the design.
Sensors for a contested environment
DARPA prefers passive or low-probability-of-detection/intercept sensing for contested environments, while also requiring detection and tracking of small, high-speed, agile targets. The BAA does not publish a guaranteed detection range. Sensor performance will depend on the target, conditions, configuration, and the limits of the eventual system.
Modular equipment and common interfaces
The BAA calls for standardized hardware and software interfaces so platform components, sensors, and effectors can be swapped as threats evolve. A government-led Pulling Guard Group is intended to govern common physical and digital interfaces. Modularity could make upgrades easier, but it does not by itself prove that equipment from different suppliers will work together in every operational setting.
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Cybersecurity and control links
DARPA points to cyber-resilient approaches, including formal methods, that can produce machine-checkable evidence about software performance and resilience. The BAA also emphasizes operation in contested electronic environments. In practice, the escort’s sensing, autonomy, and communication links must remain dependable enough for remote supervision and coordination with the protected ship.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the program is organized
Publicly named organizations have different roles in the program. The descriptions below reflect the roles announced in the cited program materials; they do not establish that any complete system has been delivered or deployed.
| Organization | Publicly described role |
|---|---|
| DARPA | Sponsor, requirements setter, and organizer of the government-led Pulling Guard Group. |
| RTX / Raytheon | Announced work on EO/IR sensing, detection software, C2, tethered-drone integration, and targeting. Raytheon announced the work on February 2, 2026. |
| U.S. Navy | The initial military partner envisioned by the BAA to provide mission authorities, operators, and munitions. |
| Commercial operator | The BAA envisions a commercial entity owning and maintaining the escort system under contract. |
The BAA also assigns the military responsibility for engagement authorities and munitions. It describes a government-led group for managing common interfaces, rather than a single supplier controlling the program’s standards.
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What is the schedule, and when could Pulling Guard be operational?
DARPA’s BAA describes a 39-month program structure. Its phases are development and demonstration milestones, not an operational deployment schedule.
| Program period | Duration in the BAA | Stated work |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | 18 months | Iterative design maturation. |
| Optional continuation | Three months | An optional continuation between the main phases. |
| Phase 2 | About 21 months | Integration, manufacturing, demonstration, and commercialization. |
The BAA expects Phase 2 to produce two variants from different performers, validate a rapid sensor-and-effector swap, and conduct an at-sea demonstration connected to an ashore C2 supervisor. RTX’s announced first phase focuses on simulated engagements and operator workflows; its second phase is to add operational launchers and effectors for live operations.
These plans do not establish a date when a system will be available for routine ship protection. The public descriptions cover design, simulated engagement, integration, manufacturing, and planned demonstrations; they do not show fielded operational deployment or proven combat results.
What does the budget figure mean?
The FY2027 DARPA Master Justification Book lists $10.404 million on the FY2025 Pulling Guard line and says the project moves into PE 0603467E, Project DAT-01, beginning in FY2026. This is a figure in a U.S. Department of Defense budget justification document, not a stated total program cost, contract value, or estimate of what a commercial operator would charge.
Quick Recap
What Pulling Guard does—and does not—establish
- It is: a DARPA program for a towed, semi-autonomous unmanned escort concept for logistics ships.
- Its central threat focus is: uncrewed surface vessels, with DARPA also naming piracy, terrorism, and uncrewed aerial vehicles.
- It keeps people involved: military operators remain in the loop for high-consequence decisions, and the protected ship’s master retains C2.
- It is not yet established as: an operationally deployed defense system with publicly demonstrated combat effectiveness.
- Its final capabilities are not fully specified publicly: the available descriptions do not establish detection ranges, a final effector configuration, or a universal ability to defeat both aerial and surface threats.
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