U.S., UK and Australia test more than 40 autonomous maritime technologies in Maritime Big Play exercise off San Diego
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Published in SI: . Updated: .
Three allies are learning to run mixed groups of ships and uncrewed vehicles and to exchange data in real time.
According to Breaking Defense, the exercise involved uncrewed surface vessels, underwater gliders, drones and subsea vehicles — more than 40 technologies. The United Kingdom led the anti-submarine warfare component: tracking underwater threats and sharing data between crewed and uncrewed platforms were rehearsed. The U.S. Navy described the goal as to "achieve milestones in integrating mature robotics and autonomous systems within AUKUS coalition maritime operations." Vice Admiral Paul Beattie: "This is about proving that our forces can operate together seamlessly, sharing data and combining assets to stay ahead of future threats." The UK will lead development of three undersea sensor payloads — a synthetic aperture sonar, a deployable anti-submarine sensor and a non-kinetic effector — to be available to all three partners by 2027.
Sources 1