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| (From L) Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps hold a press conference during the AUKUS Defense Ministerial Meeting in Mountain View, California, on December 1, 2023. (AFP) |
US Navy Will Test AI System to Help Crews Track Chinese Subs in the Pacific - Bloomberg
The US and two of its closest partners are set to test a new way to track Chinese submarines using artificial intelligence.
- US, Australian and UK set to test sonar data processed by AI
- Plan is part of Aukus security alliance formed to deter China
The US, UK and Australia are set to test new ways to track Chinese submarines using artificial intelligence.
Crews flying Pacific missions on Boeing's P-8A maritime surveillance and attack aircraft will be using AI algorithms to rapidly process sonar data gathered by underwater devices of the US, UK and Australia, the defense chiefs of the three nations announced Friday.
The technology could enable the allies to track Chinese submarines with greater speed and accuracy as they search for ways to blunt the impact of China’s rapid military modernization and growing global assertiveness. The tests are part of the three nations’ extensive technology-sharing agreement known as Aukus Pillar II.
“These joint advances will allow for timely high-volume data exploitation, improving our anti-submarine warfare capabilities,” according to a joint statement from US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and UK Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps during a meeting in California. Specifically:
- AUKUS Maritime Autonomy Experimentation and Exercise Series. The AUKUS partners will undertake a series of integrated trilateral experiments and exercises aimed at enhancing capability development, improving interoperability, and increasing the sophistication and scale of autonomous systems in the maritime domain.
- Trilateral Anti-Submarine Warfare. The AUKUS partners have demonstrated and will deploy common advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms on multiple systems, including P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft, to process data from each nation's sonobuoys.
- Undersea Vehicle Launch and Recovery. The AUKUS partners are integrating the ability to launch and recover undersea vehicles from torpedo tubes on current classes of submarines to deliver effects such as strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
- Quantum Positioning, Navigation, and Timing. The
AUKUS partners are accelerating the development of quantum technologies
for positioning, navigation, and timing in military capabilities. This will overcome denial of GPS by jamming.
- Resilient and Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Technologies (RAAIT). The
AUKUS partners are delivering artificial intelligence algorithms and
machine learning to enhance force protection, precision targeting, and
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
- Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability. AUKUS is accelerating capabilities that provide trilateral partners with advanced technology to identify emerging threats in space. AUKUS played a critical role in advancing trilateral collaboration on the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability program, which will provide 24-hour continuous, all-weather global coverage to detect, track, and identify objects in deep space and increase space domain awareness. Sites will be in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. The first radar site in Western Australia will be operational in 2026, with all three in service by the end of the decade. A deep-space radar developed by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Space Force passed a critical design review, the company announced May 30. Northrop Grumman said it also completed a software demonstration of the program known as DARC. The company last year won a $341 million contract to develop a radar site to track active satellites and debris in geosynchronous orbit. The radar will be located in the Indo-Pacific region, and Northrop Grumman is expected to deliver a prototype by late 2025 or early 2026..
- Cyber. Trilaterally, AUKUS partners are engaging on cyber security with critical suppliers to the naval supply chain.
- Establishing Trilateral Requirements. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister noted that the International Joint Requirements Oversight Council, co-chaired by the Vice Chiefs of Defense from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, is a key collaborative forum for identifying and validating operational requirements common to our three nations that will contribute to deterrence and our ability to prevail if deterrence fails.
- AUKUS Innovation Challenges. AUKUS partners will launch a series of AUKUS innovation challenges in which companies from across all three innovation ecosystems will be able to compete for prizes on a common innovation challenge topic. In early 2024, partners will launch the first trilateral Innovation Prize Challenge, focusing on electronic warfare.
- Defense Trade and Industrial Base Collaboration. The AUKUS partners are working to facilitate deeper and more rapid defense trade between the three nations by streamlining policies and processes, along with implementing comparable security standards for guiding the transfer of sensitive military technology, data, and know-how. These efforts, including proposed legislative changes, will increase private-sector cooperation across the AUKUS partners in emerging technologies and strengthen resiliency across our supply chains.
- AUKUS Advanced Capabilities Industry Forum. The AUKUS partners will establish and convene a standing Industry Forum with trilateral government and industry representatives to help inform policy, technical, and commercial frameworks to facilitate the development and delivery of advanced capabilities. The first meeting will occur in the first half of 2024.
- AUKUS Defense Investors Network. The AUKUS partners are increasing and expanding private sector engagement by welcoming the creation of an AUKUS Defense Investors Network, leveraging the current networks in all three countries to strengthen financing and facilitate targeted industry connectivity.
All three nations fly the P-8A Poseidon made by Boeing Co. The US version of the warplane flies regular patrols in the Pacific, including the South China Sea, where they are occasionally buzzed by Chinese fighters. The Poseidon carries torpedoes and cruise missiles to attack submarines and surface vessels.
Read More: US Navy Chief Aims to Deter China With Indo-Pacific Allies
The announcements are part of a broader security partnership among the three allies known as Aukus, one of a number of regional alliances the US has pursued to counter China.
Pillar I of the partnership focused on building up Australia’s domestic nuclear-powered submarine capability, which will culminate in the joint development of a new submarine for fielding by 2040. Pillar II focuses on cooperation in eight technological areas, including quantum technologies, advanced cybersecurity and hypersonic weapons.
The three defense chiefs announced plans to integrate their ability to launch and recover undersea drone vehicles from torpedo tubes on their current submarines for underwater attack and intelligence-gathering, according to the announcement.
“This capability increases the range and capability of our undersea forces and will also support” Australia’s eventual new submarine called “SSN-AUKUS,” the announcement read.
According to the Pentagon’s latest annual report on China’s military, the country currently operates six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines, and 48 diesel powered/air-independent powered attack submarines.
The Chinese navy’s “submarine force is expected to grow to 65 units by 2025 and 80 units by 2035 despite the ongoing retirement of older hulls due to an expansion of submarine construction capacity,” the report found.
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