US Navy Tests Networked Robotics Ships and Drones in Mock Combat Operations

In 2022, Ukraine flew Turkish made Bayraktar TB2 drones near Russia Black Sea flagship the Moskva. The drones had been effective against Russian armored vehicles and artillery. They distracted radar operators and then the Moskva was hit and sunk by Neptune missiles.

The review of images following the strike of the two Neptune anti-ship missiles from open-source naval analyst and retired Navy Capt. Chris Carlson told USNI News that the guided-missile cruiser did not have its fire control radars activated and could not see the threat from the two sea skimming weapons.

The success of drones is causing the US Navy to increase large scale testing of robotic ships and drones. The U.S. Pacific Fleet is testing “fleet-centric” concepts and capabilities with a focus on unmanned systems to figure out how would the fleet connect, command and control disparate uncrewed systems that are operated remotely, semi or fully autonomously.

The US Navy brought platforms (robotic ships and drones) from multiple companies together specifically to see, one, how they all perform and, two, how they integrate with each other. Along with unmanned systems, the exercise included testing and integrating various sensors, decision aids and operational tools including artificial intelligence “that connect all these systems,” he said. They also experimented with commercial satellites and line-of-sight communications to see how they could integrate into something of a naval intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability, “collecting information in the maritime, that only increases our sort of aperture for what’s in the realm of possibilities. It’s tying in our current tactics, techniques and procedures and incorporating these unmanned systems in a more persistent and scalable way to increase our warfighting capability.”