Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States recently participated in the inaugural Maritime Big Play exercise, a series of experiments and demonstrations focused on enhancing the capabilities and interoperability of uncrewed maritime systems.
According to Madeline Mortelmans, U.S. acting assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, the Maritime Big Play exercise has allowed the AUKUS countries to test and refine their ability to jointly operate uncrewed systems, share maritime data and provide real-time maritime domain awareness. Japan also participated in the activities as an observer.
The exercise, which aligns with the AUKUS partnership’s second pillar, involved several private firms whose defense technologies and equipment were evaluated by the three countries in various scenarios.
“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 improved efficiencies in acquisition, maintenance and sustainment activities,” Mortelmans said in a statement.
Decisive Advantage
The highlight of the exercise is the Autonomous Warrior 2024, a three-week maritime experimentation event held in Jervis Bay, Australia. While details about which companies participated remain unknown, Department of Defense spokesperson Army Maj. Peter Nguyen confirmed to DefenseScoop that among the technologies demonstrated were high-altitude balloons, the Triton subsurface vessel, the Greenough Advanced Rescue Craft, Sea Stalker autonomous vessels and a government-owned common control system.
Ultimately, Mortelmans said a key objective of the Maritime Big Play is to transition cutting-edge technologies into operational capabilities that provide a decisive advantage for the AUKUS forces. “AUKUS is building a foundation for deep defense industrial cooperation and delivering advanced capabilities that can and will ensure our defense forces succeed in enhancing peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific alongside UK and Australia partners both now and in the years ahead,” the assistant secretary said.
About the future of the exercise, Mortelmans reiterated that it will eventually evolve to “reflect the emerging technologies, new systems and new operational requirements.” Nguyen also confirmed that planning for the next MBP is ongoing, saying that Japan could potentially be a participant in the next iterations.