Naomi Cooper
Four unmanned surface vessels outfitted with Leidos‘ autonomy technology have reached Sydney Harbor as part of the U.S. Navy’s Integrated Battle Problem 23.2 multidomain exercise aimed at incorporating autonomous systems into fleet operations.
Gerry Fasano, president of Leidos’ defense group and a four-time Wash100 awardee, said in a company statement published Tuesday that the deployment will give “fleet commanders much-needed enhancements to maritime domain awareness, accelerating the speed and lethality of existing maritime kill chains.”
The four USV prototypes include the medium-sized fully autonomous ships Seahawk and Sea Hunter and large-sized semi-autonomous vessels Ranger and Mariner.
The deployment marks the first time the naval ships have operated as a task group and visited a Western Pacific foreign port, according to David Lewis, senior vice president for maritime operations at Leidos.
“In many ways, this deployment is showing the world that the U.S. Navy has embraced autonomy, the next generation of maritime high technology,” Lewis said.
The USVs operated in the Caribbean Sea and Panama Canal and on numerous Eastern Pacific tours before heading to Sydney Harbor.
