Leidos Holdings, Inc. LDOS recently revealed that its sea systems team has developed Sea Dart, an uncrewed underwater vessel (UUV). Sea Dart is a high-performance, affordable, flexible and adaptable vessel and is intended to support the U.S. Navy and commercial clients in a variety of operations.

A Note on Sea Dart UUV
 

Sea Dart is currently available in two standard diameters — six and nine inches — and can be transported by one or two people. Leidos' Sea Dart UUV can help with counter-mine operations, underwater surveys, undersea infrastructure configuration monitoring, battlespace preparation, environmental sensing and other missions that benefit from the widespread availability of low-cost, high-capability UUVs.

Sea Dart's low cost, which is up to 80-90% less than other small UUVs with comparable performance, makes it an excellent choice when performance and budget efficiency are essential.

An Insight Into LDOS’ Autonomous Solutions
 

UUVs are known for their capacity to perform hazardous maritime tasks, such as mine countermeasure missions and port patrol. Investments in undersea combat capabilities have expanded in recent years, and so has the demand for cutting-edge unmanned underwater vehicles.

Leidos solves next-level autonomy concerns with an unparalleled, creative approach, building on a 50-year legacy of assisting the Navy. As the Navy prepares to add more autonomous capabilities to its fleet, Leidos already has ships and small vessels at sea, resulting from years of concerted efforts to design, develop and deliver completely autonomous vessels for the Navy's most complex operations.

Leidos' autonomous solutions portfolio includes Sea Archer, Sea Ranger, Sea Specter and Sea Hunter, which supports the Navy's autonomous missions.

Growth Potential for Other Defense Stocks
 

A few other defense players that can gain from the expanding UUV market are as follows:

Huntington Ingalls Industries HII: The company has delivered more than 600 UUVs to 30 countries, including 14 NATO members, so far. Its Remote Exploration and Mapping Unmanned System family of UUVs comprises low-logistics UUVs that can be rapidly deployed from any vessel, with their common usage in mine countermeasures, antisubmarine warfare, search and recovery.

HII has a long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate of 11.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HII’s 2025 sales suggests growth of 3.7%.

The Boeing Company BA: Its Echo Voyager is a fully autonomous XLUUV-class UUV that can be used for various missions, which were previously impossible due to traditional UUV limitations. The vehicle's superior autonomy allows it to operate at sea for months, providing a more cost-effective, mission-capable alternative than standard UUVs.

Boeing boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 17.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 sales indicates an improvement of 25.7%.

BAE Systems plc BAESY: The company’s Riptide UUV-12 is easily adaptable to satisfy a wide range of mission requirements, including those requiring bigger and more powerful payloads. It can provide essential abilities such as Radio Frequency signal collecting, active acoustics, Acoustic Identification of Friend or Foe, mission autonomy and navigation.

The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 11.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BAESY’s 2025 sales implies an improvement of 53.7%.

LDOS Stock Price Movement
 

In the past year, Leidos shares have risen 4.6% against the industry’s decline of 6.7%.

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LDOS’ Zacks Rank
 

Leidos currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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