Page 12: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2022)

Eye on the Navy Surface Vehicles

A T38 Devil Ray unmanned surface vessel operates during a demonstration off the coast of Bahrain,

April 29, 2022.

David Resnick/U.S. Army

AVY ESTABLISHING UNMANNED

SURFACE VESSEL FLEET FOR E N

PERSISTENT IN IDDLE AST ISR M

By Edward Lundquist he U.S. Navy’s Task Force 59, based in Bah- Using emerging technologies, last year we seized on an op- rain as part of the U.S. Naval Forces Central portunity to put more eyes out on the water by ? elding un-

Command (NAVCENT) and U.S. Fifth Fleet, manned systems. In September, we stood up Task Force 59 is advancing the operational employment and as an unmanned systems and arti? cial intelligence task force. integration of unmanned systems and arti? cial Unmanned systems and arti? cial intelligence go together; this intelligence in ? eet operations. is an important point. There’s not one without the other.”

T

According to Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the ? eet commander, Cooper said TF 59 has established operating hubs in Bahrain unmanned systems and arti? cial intelligence are helping to ac- and Jordan, and is coming up on 15,000 hours of operating celerate innovation, especially in such a vast area of respon- time for the unmanned surface vessels. “We are on a path to sibility (AOR). build the world’s ? rst international unmanned surface vessel “It’s 5,000 miles from the Suez Canal all the way around ? eet. We have two different types of platforms. One of them the Arabian Peninsula and up to the North Arabian Gulf — provides a persistent ISR capability, and the other has a high- and perhaps too large an area to cover with manned vessels. speed sprint capability. In the case of the persistent ISR, we 12 July/August 2022

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