Asia-Pacific
AUKUS partners test more than 40 autonomous maritime technologies off Southern California
The U.S., Australia and the UK are wrapping up Maritime Big Play Pacific, a three-week AUKUS trial of more than 40 autonomous technologies for strike, resupply and undersea warfare.
The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom are finishing a three-week trial of uncrewed and autonomous maritime systems off the coast of Southern California, a test of how well the three AUKUS partners can operate each other’s robotic equipment side by side. The demonstration, called Maritime Big Play Pacific, was described by the U.S. Department of War as under way to advance interoperability among the three countries.
According to a Pentagon news story and reporting by Stars and Stripes on the U.S. Navy’s own announcement, the event began in early October and is due to end on 25 October.
What is being tested
More than 40 technologies are taking part, including autonomous systems meant to work alongside crewed warships in combat, Stars and Stripes reported. The scenarios include live-fire testing of strike operations, resupplying forces under attack and undersea warfare. The U.S. Navy has not said which specific technologies or how many vessels are involved.
The exercise sits under AUKUS Pillar II, the part of the partnership that covers advanced capabilities such as artificial intelligence, autonomy, cyber, electronic warfare and hypersonics. It is separate from Pillar I, the plan to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. The U.S. Navy said the demonstration builds on three years of work on shared command-and-control and secure communications, and aims to help the allies bring robotic and autonomous systems into their fleets and resolve technical barriers to working together.
Gerry Tighe, the U.S. lead for the exercise, said in the Navy announcement: “This demonstration represents a significant step forward as partners to integrate and fight together in future conflicts.”
Why it matters
Uncrewed boats, underwater vehicles and aircraft are becoming a regular part of naval planning, and allies that cannot share data or control each other’s systems lose much of their value. Maritime Big Play is an attempt to find those gaps in a controlled setting before the equipment is used in a crisis.
The Pentagon has been pushing the same direction at home. Geopolitiki has reported on its plan for a four-star command for this kind of warfare in Pentagon’s Project Agincourt writes to industry as it builds a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command.