Rear Admiral Tony Rossi observed the skies over southern Illinois as Boeing's MQ-25A Stingray autonomous drone completed a heavily coordinated test flight. “The MQ-25A is not just an aircraft: it’s the first step in integrating unmanned aerial refuelling onto the carrier deck, directly enabling our manned fighters to fly further and faster,” Rossi stated. The human pilot is being systematically downgraded to a legacy component of maritime power projection. The United States Navy is executing a structural automation of its entire logistical supply chain. At the Navy League Sea Air Space Maritime Symposium in National Harbor, Maryland, Admiral Daryl Caudle detailed the mathematical reality of contested logistics. “The first [deployed] containers you see will be on USVs,” Caudle informed attendees, referencing Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicles. “Unmanned has a big future [in contested logistics],” he added, explicitly targeting the transit of parts and repair assets. The fleet architecture is pivoting away from vulnerable human capital toward attritable, uncrewed platforms capable of absorbing sovereign volatility.