Uncrewed Maritime Systems: Navy Should Improve Its Approach to Maximize Early Investments

Abstract

The Navy is in the process of re-examining its maritime strategy to respond to increased competition at sea from nations investing in new weapons and technology specifically designed to disrupt U.S. Naval advantages. In March 2021, the Navy published its Unmanned Campaign Framework which called for the development and fielding of a range of vehicles designed to operate on the surface and undersea without a crew or with a minimal crew to complement the Navy’s existing fleet. The Navy’s Framework describes a strategy for developing and improving these uncrewed maritime systems by leveraging technology that can be scaled across multiple platforms and domains. The Navy will need to invest significantly in order to develop the technologies necessary to enable these maritime systems to operate autonomously (or semi autonomously), as well as interact with the existing fleet. While the U.S. military has remotely operated uncrewed aerial vehicles for over 2 decades, uncrewed maritime systems are still in their infancy. As a result, the Navy is embarking on a robust effort intended to rapidly develop and field uncrewed system prototypes that can work with existing crewed vessels and solve technical issues prior to acquiring these systems in significant numbers. This paper will assess the extent to which the Navy’s (1) strategic planning provide a sufficient basis to invest in uncrewed maritime systems; (2) leadership structure and processes are positioned to achieve its objectives and goals; and (3) prototyping approach is improving its knowledge prior to making purchase decisions.