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Australian exercise puts Royal Navy autonomous systems through their paces

 Australian exercise puts Royal Navy autonomous systems through their paces
THE Royal Navy has boosted its ability to work seamlessly with allies in the control and use of autonomous and uncrewed systems with a series of trials in Australia. 

Under the AUKUS defence partnership, Australia, the UK and the United States have conducted a critical serial of the ‘Maritime Big Play’ exercise series deploying and testing 30 autonomous platforms to increase interoperability across the three nations and prove the ability to control assets belonging to each other’s navies.  

Exercise Autonomous Warrior saw hundreds of personnel, around 30 unmanned air vehicles, uncrewed vessels, submersibles and submarine-hunting sonobuoys deployed in Jervis Bay, on Australia’s east coast.  

The Royal Navy tested a system called Strike Net which allowed the UK to control remotely-piloted kit owned by the US and Australia, and vice versa.  

To test Strike Net and push it to its limits, the nations sent a variety of systems out to sea and tested how they would use them in operational scenarios.  

The Australians deployed Bluebottle– an all-weather autonomous vessel which surveys the environment using cameras and sensors. The data and information it gathered was analysed and interpreted by, Australia, the UK and US participants, helping to build a tactical picture to help with warfighting decisions.  

Meanwhile the UK trialled SONIX, which can be used in anti-submarine warfare. It is designed to receive messages from sonobuoys, which can be dropped into the sea from airplanes and helicopters among other methods, with its data then analysed to identify and track enemy submarines.  

Like Bluebottle, SONIX’s information was then accessed and utilised by all three nations.  

This exercise has unlocked the potential of autonomous and uncrewed systems that will increase the mass, persistence and lethality of the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, and the US Navy.

Rear Admiral James Parkin

The Royal Navy’s Director Develop, Rear Admiral James Parkin, who oversees the UK teams responsible for developing these technologies and systems, said: “This exercise has unlocked the potential of autonomous and uncrewed systems that will increase the mass, persistence and lethality of the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, and the US Navy.  

“Maritime Big Play is giving AUKUS partners the opportunity to accelerate capability development together, learn lessons from each other and our innovative companies, and to develop our concepts of operations for the future.”  

The AUKUS nations used Autonomous Warrior as a backdrop for their experimentation series Maritime Big Play - the first large-scale Maritime Big Play exercise delivered in the Indo-Pacific and follows recent successful trials in Portugal. During international exercise REPMUS, the Royal Navy was able to control a vessel across the world in Australia.  

Now, Autonomous Warrior has taken that ability one step further and proven the three AUKUS nations can contribute different systems and utilise them to match their operational needs.  

Representatives from Japan also joined Autonomous Warrior to observe Maritime Big Play activities. This follows consultations with Japan on improving interoperability with Japan’s maritime autonomous systems as an initial area of cooperation under AUKUS Pillar Two.  

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