Page 12 - ADT NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 Online Magazine

© L3 Harris

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THE UNITED STATES area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts
of the Indian Ocean. The region comprises 21 countries and includes
NAVY’S MANNED-UN- three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal
MANNED TEAMING and the Strait of Bab-al-Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen.

EXPERIMENTATION Late last year, the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT)
established a new task force to rapidly integrate unmanned systems
IS A SUCCESS and artificial intelligence with maritime operations in the 5th Fleet
area of operations. Task Force 59 is the first U.S. Navy task force of
its kind. It will include 15 different types of unmanned systems—10 of
 JAY MENON which will operate in the area for the first time—as well as several AI
and data integration systems.
The demand for unmanned surface vessels
(USVs) is showing tremendous growth with Some of the featured systems include Elbit Systems Seagull
United States and its allies planning a force unmanned surface vessel, L3Harris Technologies Arabian Fox
of USVs to patrol the waters from the Red Sea MAST-13 autonomous vessel, Marine Advanced Robotics’ WAM-V
into the Persian Gulf. “We’ve established a goal watercraft and Ocean Aero’s TRITON autonomous underwater and
to have 100 unmanned surface vessels avail- surface vehicle. “The bottom line on why we’re doing this is so that
able for patrol in waters around the Arabian we can develop and integrate unmanned systems and AI as a means
Peninsula by the end of the summer of 2023… to do two things,” said Cooper, adding, “One, enhance our maritime
with a majority of the systems coming from domain awareness, and two, increase deterrence.”
our international and regional partners,” U.S.
5th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Brad Cooper Cooper also stated the task force would rely heavily on regional and
recently said. coalition partnerships. “The launch of Task Force 59 really invigorates
our partnerships around this region as we expand our common oper-
The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encom- ating picture.” The task force aims to build trust and confidence
passes nearly 2.5 million square miles of water in human-machine teaming through a series of operations at sea.

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