This month Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. — all members of the AUKUS trilateral partnership — participated in “Maritime Big Play,” a series of integrated experiments and exercises held in the Indo-Pacific region, meant to enhance capability development and improve interoperability between the partners. 

As part of the experiments and exercises, the AUKUS partners tested and refined their ability to jointly operate uncrewed maritime systems, share and process naval data, and provide real-time maritime domain awareness in support of decision-making, said Madeline Mortelmans, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities. 

“These experiments address the need to expand the reach, capability and capacity of our forces in the maritime environment through the use of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems,” Mortelmans said during a virtual discussion on Wednesday. “Over the past several weeks, we’ve been testing and refining the ability to jointly operate uncrewed maritime systems to share and process maritime data from all three nations and to provide real-time maritime domain awareness to support decision making.” 

As part of Maritime Big Play, various private sector companies brought forth technologies and equipment that could be evaluated by all three nations as part of scenarios created for the event. Included were autonomous air, surface and sub-surface vessels, balloons and networking systems. 

“All the testing [and] experimentation was driven by specific scenarios,” a defense official said on background. “Think of the need to use a mix of uncrewed and crewed assets to do very-large-area [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance], for example, and to maintain a common operating picture.” 

That official also said an important aspect of the evaluation was ensuring interoperability. When partners bring in new equipment, it’s impractical to wait for weeks or months to integrate that new capability into existing systems. 

Among other things, the Maritime Big Play event, Mortelmans said, allows AUKUS partner nations to practice fielding and maintaining uncrewed systems and gain experience operating in coalitions to solve operational problems such as improving undersea situational awareness. 

“Our work will inform AUKUS partners’ understanding of how crewed and uncrewed capabilities can be integrated to get an operational advantage, and where we can achieve cost savings and improve efficiencies in acquisition, maintenance and sustainment activities,” she said. 

As part of AUKUS, partner nations are investing in their own and in each other’s industrial bases to make their supply chains more resilient, integrated and productive. In part, the Maritime Big Play event enhances those partner nation efforts. The experiments and exercises also allow AUKUS nations to improve interoperability of sensors and uncrewed systems and take advantage of the economies of scale expected to reduce capability acquisition costs, along with maintenance and training costs. 

The first pillar of the AUKUS partnership is aimed at delivering to Australia a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability to Australia. The second pillar of that partnership involves enhancing joint capabilities and interoperability. The Maritime Big Play, series of integrated experiments and exercises was in part designed to enhance the second pillar of AUKUS.

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