By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization The US-Navy’s “long-in-development” ghost fleet of autonomous unmanned surface vessels has now completed its first operational deployment, a historical development potentially marking the advent of a new era in maritime warfare. Four Unmanned Surface Vessels have just returned from deployments in the Pacific theater where they conducted war training, visited allies such as Japan and performed a wide range of autonomous maneuvers. The Mariner Unmanned Surface Vessel and the Ranger Large Unmanned Surface Vessels have returned following a port call at Yokusuka of Kanagawa, Japan. Two more US Navy USVs, the Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk, have also returned from the Pacific to Southern California. The Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk began as innovative projects with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and they are now USVs supporting the service’s operational capabilities emerging from the Navy’s Ghost Fleet Overlord program. In recent years, the Navy has been amidst a massive “drone” explosion with new unmanned systems in development of all sizes and with varying degrees of autonomy. An interesting report from Defense News [https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2024/01/16/us-navys-four-unmanned-ships-return-from-pacific-deployment/] cited Navy officials explaining that the USV operated in “autonomous” mode for a considerable amount of the mission. Capt. Scot Searles, Program Manager, Unmanned Maritime Systems, Naval Sea Systems Command The operational arrival of these large and medium-sized USVs, particularly because of the extent to which they operated in autonomous mode, is an extremely significant manifestation of a decade-plus long Navy effort to engineer a fleet of unmanned surface vehicles operating autonomously in coordination with one another. The Ghost Fleet effort began more than 10 years ago with the Office of Naval Research before transitioning to the Navy itself for development. The concept at its inception was clear, meaning the intent was to evolve and operationalize paradigm-changing levels of autonomy using advanced algorithms, computer automation and AI-enabled systems. The operational merits are clear, as an integrated, forward operating unmanned fleet can survey high-threat areas looking for vulnerabilities or points of attack along an enemy perimeter, conduct high-risk countermine and submarine-hunting missions, operating as a forward sensor or ISR “node” or even firing weapons when directed by a human. This not only saves soldiers lives and increases the envelope of possibility for high-risk missions, but also supports the Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations strategy aimed at fielding a securely networked, multi-domain force of manned and unmanned vehicles connecting surface, air and undersea domains to one another in real time. Advanced algorithms and improved AI-enabled systems have inspired the Navy to bring autonomous interoperability to new levels of coordination, meaning forward operating USVs can increasingly share information between themselves, make adjustments based on changing variables and process high volumes of data at the point of collection. While many adjustments, upgrades and continued modernization are likely to command attention, the deployment of these USVs signifies that the Navy’s long-sought-after Ghost Fleet vision … is now here. Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven - Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. ***********************************************
