The US Navy risks outsourcing control of its drones - Opinion

Josh Tallis

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Thanks to programs like Replicator, and incubators like the Defense Innovation Unit and the Disruptive Capabilities Office, the Navy is on the precipice of widespread adoption of uncrewed systems.

These systems bring with them the prospect of new technologies, new operational designs and, potentially, new business models. A key question for the Navy is how to signal to industry that the service has a thoughtful plan for the vast private sector investments needed to enable this transition, not to stifle innovation, but to avoid a feeding frenzy that the Navy cannot channel to best effect. One of the clearest needs for guardrails comes with how the Navy will execute command and control (C2) over the data, platforms, and networks that will underpin an ever larger and more lethal robotic fleet. As industry sees dollar signs at the dawn of robotic warfare, the Navy must consider whether it wants C2 to become a commercial offering before it finds itself having done so by accident. It may well be on that path already.

Three examples, from the sea to space, illustrate the Navy’s experimentation with partially privatized command and control, with attendant benefits and risks. Furthest downstream, Saildrone has taken a pole position in waterfront experimentation at FIFTH and FOURTH fleets in part because of a contractor-owned, contractor-operated model that enabled quicker and cheaper iteration. What the company’s website calls “mission-as-a-service” is effectively maritime domain awareness (MDA) for sale — the Navy buys the data stream coming off a vessel while the business operates the platform itself. This model has been invaluable as a route to fast testing on the water, though it has limitations, not least given companies’ likely opposition to sending company-owned vessels into high threat environments (e.g., the Red Sea or Black Sea today, maybe the South China Sea tomorrow). MDA for sale has helped the Navy move at speed, but it is unlikely to serve as an enduring model to achieve scale considering the Service is in the business of putting expensive platforms in harms way.