The U.S. Navy formally established a new center this week at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia to integrate robotic and autonomous systems across its fleet. The Robotic and Autonomous Systems Warfighting Development Center (RASWDC) will serve as the single operational home for uncrewed systems in the air, on the surface, and under the sea, according to an administrative message from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle posted on a Navy HR website.
Rear Adm. Melvin Smith has been tapped to command the new center. He is spearheading a phased near-, mid-, and long-term implementation plan that includes developing the command structure, mission relationships, and resource requirements as the organization progresses toward full operational capability. The center falls under U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
“To maintain our decisive maritime advantage, we must rapidly integrate robotic and autonomous systems into how we operate, train, and deploy,” Caudle said in a statement. “The establishment of RASWDC ensures our Sailors are equipped with the tactical edge, advanced training, and specialized doctrine required to win the high-end fight.”
The center has three core missions: develop warfighting concepts, train sailors, and field and test new technology. It will test unmanned systems in realistic conditions, including environments where communications are degraded or denied, and will write the doctrine and tactics for using them. It will also send performance data from testing, experiments, and training back to the engineers and program managers who design and buy the systems.
“Our purpose here is to consolidate the Navy’s autonomous efforts across air, surface, and undersea domains, and give them a single home here at Little Creek,” Smith said. “Our mandate is straightforward: educate our warfighters, equip the Fleet with tools that actually survive the environment, and develop the combined tactics to employ them decisively. We are here to make sure our forces don’t just field unmanned systems, but dominate with them.”
The Navy said RASWDC will not take over work done by its existing warfighting development centers, type commanders, or systems commands, but will coordinate with them to share lessons and feed in new requirements.
The establishment of RASWDC follows the Navy’s creation on Aug. 5 of a Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Robotic and Autonomous Systems, a single office responsible for buying, budgeting, setting technical standards, and fielding unmanned systems. Christopher Miller, who also leads the Navy’s maritime acquisition portfolio, is serving as acting head of that office and reports directly to William Toti, who is performing the duties of Under Secretary of the Navy. That move replaced the head of the Navy’s previous drone acquisition office eight months after it was set up.
“Systems that work will move forward. Systems that do not will be improved, redirected, or stopped,” Caudle wrote. “The measure of success is not how many prototypes we demonstrate. It’s how much combat power we can repeatedly generate, deploy, sustain, and adapt.”
Sources: DVIDS News · DefenseScoop