Page 25: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2023)

CTO IN FOCUS: DON HAIRSTON, AUSTAL USA ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

Images courtesy AAT “Drones and autonomy are a key piece of the US Navy’s future requirements, and

Austal USA Advanced Technologies is poised to bring additive manufacturing capabilities

Cheap asymmetric systems are proving effective against to the rapid production and deployment of much larger, much more expensive and powerful assets. unmanned systems to meet that need.”

How are these trends impacting your work?

Austal USA has expanded its focus area to address these

Don Hairston, trends – I believe that large numbers of autonomous drones

General Manager, Austal USA Advanced Technologies are the right answer. For instance, we are supporting L3Har- ris in building out the GHOST ? eet, and we are participat- ing in the Overlord program, currently building vessel #3 and predictive modeling perspective and a product lifecycle man- the earlier vessels on which Austal’s automated machinery agement standpoint is critical; end-to-end performance-based control systems have been installed. Also, through Saildrone, logistics is possible through the fundamental understanding of system engineering and the system engineering model, work-

Austal USA is building a 65-foot ISR and ocean mapping ves- ing in concert with data analytics and AI. It’s one thing to have sel called Surveyor. Austal USA has also integrated layers of au- a ? eet, it’s another thing to support it, and through data analytics tonomous systems on EPF-13 with success; these integrated lay- ers include automated machinery controls, L3Harris’s ASView, and AI, I believe that is going to be a game changer. as well as General Dynamics wave predictive capabilities. Tying these capabilities together on an integrated backbone on EPF-13 What are your objectives in the coming 12 to 24 months?

The priority is transforming the submarine industrial base effectively demonstrated the possibility of an autonomous large surface vessel to the US Navy. Austal is also pursuing a prime with AM and developing a highly skilled workforce to support contract to build the Large Unmanned Surface Vessels (LUSV). it. Our near-term goal is to build out the network of suppliers,

Drones and autonomy are a key piece of the US Navy’s future not only at the Center of Excellence, but growing our partners as well. We are activating suppliers by guiding them through requirements, and Austal USA Advanced Technologies is poised

Navy AM technical requirements, ? owing down quality stan- to bring additive manufacturing capabilities to the rapid produc- tion and deployment of unmanned systems to meet that need. dards, and helping them to establish robust AM capabilities.

We must to be ready to scale up using additive manufacturing Our AM base is being primed to print good parts using TDP recipes that are ready for install. We’re investigating process production capabilities for small and medium vessels. In the fu- ture, we will be in a position to print small sized vessels, but automation to improve the ef? ciency of supplier activation to more rapidly expand our network. Right now, we’re produc- currently our focus is the submarine industrial base. ing tens of TDPs per quarter, but our ultimate goal is to pro- duce hundreds of TDPs per quarter. We want to scale from

What tech do you see in the formative stage that will deter- tens of parts to thousands of parts per year. This exponential mine the size and shape of the US Navy ? eet of tomorrow?

Data analytics and AI are pivotal as we build Navy’s future growth is necessary to support that ‘one plus two’ initiative ? eet. They offer the opportunity to have ? eets of unmanned from a production standpoint. Other critical focus areas in- vessels of all sizes and shapes, in the air, on land, and on the clude building the training pipeline, and automating the entire surface and underwater. The ability to support assets from a supply chain process to support this growth mindset.

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