Navy gearing up to test secretive Project Overmatch capabilities at RIMPAC
The U.S. Navy plans to use the upcoming Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise as a new testing ground for the cutting-edge network technologies that have been developed for a highly classified effort known as Project Overmatch.
The next iteration of RIMPAC, a biennial event which has historically been the world’s largest international maritime exercise, is slated to take place this summer near Hawaii. The most recent version, which was held in 2022, involved 26 nations, 38 surface ships, three submarines, nine national land forces, more than 30 unmanned systems, approximately 170 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel, according to the service.
A total of 29 nations were scheduled to participate in RIMPAC 2024.
“The investments that we’ve made in operation Overmatch … will be exercised during RIMPAC ’24, basically. We’ve also increased our collaboration with allies and partners for RIMPAC ’24, which is very exciting. And on the autonomous side of the house, the unmanned Navy side of the house, we’re actually looking to actually employ all four Overlord projects as well, too, in an incredible way. So we’re very excited about RIMPAC,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told lawmakers Thursday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Project Overmatch is the sea service’s contribution to the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) initiative, which is intended to better connect sensors, platforms and data flows from the U.S. military and key allies and partners under a more unified network for better and faster decision-making.
Experimentation with Overmatch tech began last year with Carrier Strike Group 1 and its flagship, the USS Carl Vinson, in the Pacific. Since then, it has been rolled out to additional units, including Carrier Strike Group 4 and Carrier Strike Group 15, and the aim is to continue scaling it across the force.
The Navy has already invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the project.
Officials have said the sea service is making significant progress, including using the capabilities to deliver over-the-air software updates to ships.
The department has requested an additional $139.8 million for the effort in fiscal 2025 and $716.7 million across the five-year spending plan that’s part of the future years defense program (FYDP).
“In order to ensure warfighting advantage, we must guarantee decision superiority for our warfighters,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said in her written testimony for Thursday’s SASC hearing. “Through Project Overmatch — the Navy’s contribution to Combined Joint All Domain Command & Control — we are fielding the connective tissue for today’s Fleet, while developing and experimenting with what is needed for our hybrid fleet” of crewed and uncrewed systems.
“Using modern software methods and pipelines, we are fielding software-based networking technologies to provide as many pathways to connect and share information as possible, as well as software applications that aid decision makers and planners in executing [distributed maritime operations]. To date we have fielded our first increments of Project Overmatch across multiple Carrier Strike Groups and shore command nodes. The FY25 budget request will fund our follow-on increments of this capability, while growing the architecture, adding resilience and redundancy to our communications paths, and expanding into additional domains in conjunction with our Joint partners and Allies,” she wrote.
