By Geoff Fein
As the Navy begins to incorporate unmanned systems into the fleet, service officials are going to have to deal with a number of challenges ranging from acceptance of the new technologies to how best to procure them, according to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO).
Additionally, Adm. Gary Roughead said he is “very interested in trying to move forward as quickly” as he can with some autonomous underwater systems.
In an address on the future of naval unmanned technologies, Roughead told attendees at the Brookings Institute that there are a host of challenges, not only technical, but also cultural and dealing with procurement.
The procurement system, Roughead said, is going to be quite challenged with moving forward with unmanned systems, particularly because of the speed at which technology moves and changes.
“The ability for us to determine requirements, define what we want to do, and then not have to lock everything in place at [that point in time] is something that will continue to challenge us unless we can get some changes made where some of the capability, some of the aspects of what we are developing, can be held off until later stages of development,” Roughead said. “And right now that is something that I believe challenges us today. And, unless we get that changed, we will be fielding technology that is not as current as the events that we will be dealing with.”
Although these technologies are unmanned, Roughead noted it is important to understand people will be involved in the operation and maintenance of those technologies.
“There will be in some way, shape, or form people associated with that system, and it’s very easy not to think about because we have an unmanned system,” he said. “If we are blind to the numbers to the manning model, skill level…then we are not appropriately addressing total ownership cost. And, if you can’t address total ownership cost, you can’t determine return on investment…so we have to have a good focus on what the manning numbers are.”
Total ownership cost, Roughead added, will be a very important conversation along with any discussion on manning.
For example, he added, the Navy is looking at how unmanned vehicles are powered and what is the right way to fuel them. “How do we put in place the cost to own these systems, maintain, upgrade [them]…what is the scheme we have for that?”
“We are seeking out and embracing those things that will make a difference. How can you use systems like this to prevent and prevail in conflict,” Roughead added.
But he warned that these technologies should not be seen as a panacea.
“If we simply operate these systems as we would a manned system, I question just how far we have progressed,” Roughead said.
One way of operating unmanned vehicles is to develop autonomous systems. While the idea of robotic systems operating on their own, making decisions, might seem like science fiction, Roughead noted that the Navy is further ahead than some might think.
“We tend to become captured by the aerial systems and in the war we are in today they have proven to be extraordinarily capable. My exploration has shown me we are further ahead technically on some of the underwater systems,” he said. “Operationally, autonomous underwater systems have great value simply because you are able to…operate them more readily because that problem tends to move a little bit slower. So I think that autonomy there is important where you can put it in, do its own thing for a while, and then come back and couple up again.”
The decision to realign the Navy’s director of intelligence and director of networks into a single entity will be of great value as not only unmanned systems are further developed, but as autonomy plays a great role in operations, Roughead said.
“If I wanted to talk about unmanned systems, I had to go talk to my submariners, my aviators, my surface guys. Now they are all in one place. We will be able to make decisions on how we control it, how we optimize control in various domains, how we optimize our sensing among all of the different domains in which we operate. So I think we are well positioned to make some good decisions,” Roughead added. “Those decisions ultimately will fall upon the Navy leadership, but I think we have positioned ourselves much better with this new construct than we otherwise would have.”