Readers of Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter don’t need to be told that Australia now has a first-rate navy that – while numerically smaller than the navies of some of its larger neighbours – wields increasingly positive influence in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and beyond. These readers are also well aware of the commitment the ADF and RAN have made to acquiring uninhabited systems to complement its manned ships and other platforms.
What is less clear is whether the Australian Defence Forces have yet evolved a CONOPS – a concept of operations – for how these uninhabited systems will integrate with the human teammates who seek to use them to do the dull, dirty and dangerous work that puts people in harm’s way. Beyond that, one has to wonder how unmanned maritime systems the ADF and RAN intend to employ will get to the fight.
The easy answer, of course, is to just put them aboard a RAN ship. But these vessels, even the large and highly capable amphibious ships—HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide—are already loaded with the “kit” that must be taken to the fight. Space is at a premium and taking aboard “just one more thing” is rarely an option. Another way must be found if uninhabited systems are to become useful partners.
Australia’s alliance partner, the United States— and specifically the U.S. Navy—is dealing with this challenge and has evolved a CONOPS to get its uninhabited maritime systems to the fight. This still emerging CONOPS involves an approach that has evolved to be called “Nested Dolls” (or Russian Dolls if that visual is more appealing).
What this means is that a large uninhabited maritime systems (LUSV) is loaded with medium uninhabited maritime systems (MUSV), which, in turn, carry various sizes of smaller USVs, as well as uninhabited underwater systems (UUVs) and uninhabited air systems (UAVs). The LUSV thus becomes the “truck” that carries its smaller cousins to the fight.
While this CONOPS might sound complicated, it is anything but, and it is one that is gaining increasing support within U.S. Navy circles. Attaching a LUSV carrying MUSVs and smaller uninhabited systems to a strike group offers great potential to provide a step-function increase in capabilities of these fighting units. The ADF and RAN would be well-served to watch this evolving process as it seeks to fully leverage the enormous potential of its capital ships and its emerging uninhabited systems.
This is an excerpt from APDR. To read the full story, click here.
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