Navy PAE for robotic and autonomous systems preparing to release marketplace roadmap
The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for robotic and autonomous systems is gearing up to release a roadmap to industry to inform its marketplace for procuring maritime drones, according to a senior official.
The organization was stood up late last year as part of a broader acquisition shakeup at the Defense Department to consolidate and enhance capability portfolio management.
Prior to the restructuring, the Navy and Marine Corps had about 200 programs, projects and science-and-technology efforts related to robotics and autonomous systems that were spread across six program executive offices and 25 program offices, according to Nick Bergeron, deputy PAE for RAS. Under the new construct, those initiatives have been brought under a single accountable acquisition authority.
The organization is moving toward a “marketplace” framework, including for medium unmanned surface vessels, or MUSVs.
“I think part of that, in regards to engagement with industry, is we need to put the roadmap out for that marketplace and solicit feedback. What does it look like for our marketplace to really incentivize and motivate towards the right end states we want? And so we plan in the next few weeks to put out a roadmap, garner some feedback from industry. You’ve seen the first town hall on MUSV recently … and we plan a few more town halls in that regard to really make sure we’re getting after it in the right direction,” Bergeron said during a panel Tuesday at the Sea-Air-Space symposium.
He told DefenseScoop that the upcoming roadmap is expected to encompass the entire RAS portfolio, not just MUSV.
“It’ll likely be very mission-focused with specific contributions from systems like MUSV. But that’s the plan is to really have it be broad across the entire portfolio,” he said.
The Navy is investing billions of dollars into its unmanned systems portfolio, and the PAE for RAS plays a key role in overseeing those efforts.
The service has been pondering the right mix of government-owned, government-operated (GOGO) platforms and contractor-owned, contractor-operated (COCO) technologies for the portfolio.
“Part of that, I think about a lot is like, hey, let’s think about the operating model we’re using to both procure and possibly, in many cases in the future, lease these vessels and potentially sensors, containerized sensors, and payloads. Like, do we do we always need to flat out procure them? If we do, do we have the storage space available, the piers, the infrastructure, everything required? In many cases, it may make sense to have a hybrid fleet so I own a certain number because of bespoke military payloads but I have a fleet that is doing, say, general [maritime domain awareness intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and I do not need, you know, to own them or operate them. I just need the data back, right?” Bergeron said.
He continued: “So really, data consumption and data services are kind of the center of what we do. Let’s drive from there. And so I think, in that regard, I’d love to hear from industry about what we’re doing in commercial markets that can be applied directly forward instead of driving uniqueness to our government bespoke solutions.”
