{"id":16175,"date":"2020-04-20T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T09:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/20\/natos-start-up-charts-a-bold-future-in-maritime-unmanned-systems\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:34:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:34:48","slug":"natos-start-up-charts-a-bold-future-in-maritime-unmanned-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/04\/20\/natos-start-up-charts-a-bold-future-in-maritime-unmanned-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO\u2019s \u2018startup\u2019 charts a bold future in maritime unmanned systems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last December, at their meeting in London, NATO leaders declared<\/a>: \u201cTo stay secure, we must look to the future together. We are addressing the breadth and scale of new technologies to maintain our technological edge, while preserving our values and norms.\u201d These two sentences were, in part, a nod to a significant piece of work the alliance is undertaking within the broader mandate of alliance innovation \u2014 NATO\u2019s Maritime Unmanned Systems Initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Granted, on its own this sounds both technical and narrow within the context of emerging technology, a context that includes: artificial intelligence, data, space, hypersonic weapons, bio technologies, quantum research, autonomy and more. So why are maritime unmanned systems relevant now? Simply put, developing the numbers of manned submarines, aircraft and ships required to keep pace with potential adversaries is simply not economically viable (almost $3 billion<\/a> per Virginia-class U.S. submarine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not since the Cold War has NATO needed the volume of maritime forces to protect our seas and oceans from would-be foes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO\u2019s areas of interest are expanding. As climate change affects the Arctic, new maritime routes are being created, which Russia in particular is exploiting with its submarines and ships. This matters because it exposes a new flank on NATO\u2019s high-north periphery, and if left unchecked is a potential vulnerability whilst also being a potential opportunity; this, coupled with an increasing need to protect our undersea data infrastructure means NATO\u2019s geostrategic responsibilities continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, if allies are to reinforce NATO\u2019s maritime posture, deter Russian aggression, guard against Chinese activity, and protect both critical national infrastructure and our sea lines of communication, NATO must do things differently and at the speed of relevance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO\u2019s Maritime Unmanned Systems Initiative was agreed by 13 defense ministers in October 2018. Since then, the initiative\u2019s success has attracted the participation of three more allies and garnered significant interest from all of NATO\u2019s maritime nations. The political agreement struck in 2018 provided the mandate for NATO to bring together disparate strands of common work ongoing within nations. NATO, acting as a network, enabled allies to become greater than the sum of their parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focus is threefold: utilize world-leading research to increase allied interoperability between conventional forces and unmanned drones<\/a>; establish new tactics for our sailors to truly leverage these technologies; and develop secure digital communications for military drones across all domains (air, sea and land). Addressing these priorities together will enable this effort to be scaled across the alliance, at pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, the speed of this effort has been breathtaking. So much so that even the United States and the United Kingdom \u2014 two allies who have invested the most in this area \u2014 are using the NATO initiative as a catalyst for their own national efforts. The last 12-plus months has seen the creation of a NATO project office, a governance body, as well as the planning and successful execution of the world\u2019s largest and most complex maritime unmanned systems exercise off the Portuguese coast<\/a> in September 2019. This event brought together the very best from our navies, industry, scientific institutes and academia. The results were hugely impressive, with many \u201cworld firsts\u201d including maritime unmanned systems augmenting conventional forces through multiple scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\t