The development of unmanned vechicles that can support maritime operations is intense and operational experimentation is being conducted internationally in an increasing tempo. Unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles are being utilized operationally by a multitude of naval forces worldwide, while the use of unmanned surface vehicles is less spread. Current operational use cases are described, and future needs are outlined. Examples of unmanned systems, in the air, ground, and sea domains, are described in order to provide the reader with a representative picture of existing unmanned vehicles. The international development in the area of unmanned vehicles for maritime operations is described. Examples of research and development needs, which are deemed critical in order to achieve an increase in operational efficiency, are outlined. The focus is on the following areas: command and control, robust communication and navigation systems, energy systems, platform development, increased levels of autonomy and mannedunmanned teaming. Unmanned vehicles are in the near future expected to only be able to efficiently solve a limited part of the missions that a multi-mission manned vessel typically performs. Unmanned vehicles are deemed to have the potential to enable for instance: (i) operations in environments, weather conditions and scenarios where manned systems may not be able to operate, (ii) faster production and fielding of additional systems, (iii) increased safety, (iv) higher risk operations in antiaccess/ area-denial scenarios, and (v) free qualified manned vessels from timeand resource consuming routine missions. It is still uncertain how unmanned vehicles should be used to achieve a high operative effect and what missions they will be able to perform in a cost-effective manner in a Swedish maritime context. Continued studies and extensive experimentation is required in order to evaluate the maturity levels of different technologies and develop suitable concept of operations in prioritized use cases.