Navy considers new Warfighting Development Center for robotic and autonomous systems
As the Navy hustles to operationalize a mix of low- and high-tech drones that extend the fleet’s reach and combat power, its highest-ranking officer is looking to launch a new Warfighting Development Center that specializes in training and deployment tactics for robotic and autonomous systems.
“We need to move these capabilities from individual units into composite mission sets, including contested logistics,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said Monday.
During an onstage keynote and media roundtable on the sidelines of the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space convention, the CNO supplied updates about unfolding efforts to reorganize and modernize the fleet’s command structure and operational concepts, amid multiple ongoing conflicts and intense global competition.
Caudle unveiled his U.S. Navy Fighting Instructions and accompanying Hedge Strategy earlier this year.
Broadly, that framework to guide contemporary naval operations seeks to combine high-end, multi-mission manned platforms with cost-effective and risk-worthy unmanned systems. The aim is to enable a more adaptive, effective and resilient force — dubbed the Golden Fleet — equipped with tailored forces and offsets.
“The challenges we face today demand more than incremental improvement,” Caudle said in his keynote. “They demand that we rethink how we generate combat power as a system, the tyranny of threats across the globe, the readiness of our industrial base, and the speed and adaptability of our adversaries.”
These plans hinge on the integration of surface, undersea, and aerial drones, which the Navy collectively refers to as robotic and autonomous systems, or RAS.
At the roundtable, Caudle briefly told reporters that he is “thinking through the creation of a Warfighting Development Center” for RAS to help bring the sea service’s broader unmanned vision to fruition.
The Navy currently runs several WDCs, such as the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center and the Naval Surface and the Mine Warfighting Development Center. Each hub focuses on generating techniques, training and opportunities for particular warfighting domains and capabilities.
Caudle didn’t provide a timeline for potentially launching the new center for RAS.
He noted that “using USVs to move food and parts — replenishing underways without risking humans — is a major use case” for the technology.
Among other initiatives, the Navy will also soon start transitioning medium-sized unmanned surface vessels from experimental prototypes to fully operational assets integrated in real-world battlegroup formations.
“We are about to deploy our first MUSV with the Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group,” Caudle told reporters.
