By Calvin Biesecker
As international navies and coast guards increase their data sharing and build more and deeper partnerships with one another, more naval forces are making use of technology that automatically provides basic information about large vessels operating near coastal waters and ports, thereby improving situational awareness in the maritime domain, the director of Maritime Domain Awareness for the U.S. Navy said yesterday.
The data collected from the Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) provides a base level of information, such as a vessel’s flag nation, last port of departure, cargo, speed and heading, that allows naval forces and others using the information to understand who is “off your coast or approaching your ports” and to detect anomalies, Rear Adm. Stewart O’Bryan said during a media teleconference. O’Bryan was speaking from Newport R.I., where he is attending the 19th International Seapower Symposium hosed by the Chief of Naval Operations and the U.S. Naval War College.
“Most nations take that base information of AIS and couple it with other information and intelligence to build an understanding of what is going on around their inland waters,” O’Bryan said.
There is increased emphasis among naval forces worldwide to improve partnerships and increase data sharing as a way to bolster maritime domain awareness. The responsibility for Maritime Domain Awareness primarily belongs to a nation’s navy or coast guard, yet none of them, including the U.S. Navy, has the resources and manpower “to do it all,” O’Bryan said. “However, through open maritime data sharing navies’ and coast guards’ collectively have a better understanding of the maritime domain in order to perform their missions.”
AIS systems are mandatory on commercial vessels larger than 300 gross tons. The increased reliance on these systems by nations that are tracking maritime traffic has led to increased coverage in chokepoints and coastal waters “so we can see an improvement in the coverage of the globe,” O’Bryan said. AIS combined with other information and intelligence allows for better tracking of a vessel of concern, he said. That information can be shared with other nations as needed.
“And that’s based on the partnerships and trust and cooperation through symposiums like this and regional networks where we can begin to share,” he said.
Regarding smaller vessels that aren’t required to carry AIS transponders, O’Bryan said that partnerships, data sharing and technologies like coastal radars are means to provide better tracking of these boats. In some instances, such as with Singapore, small vessels operating in the Straits of Malacca are using transponders so that they can be tracked, he said. Small vessel security is an ongoing discussion in the United States, he added.