The Navy has broken ground on a new subsea and seabed warfare facility to encourage further research, development, testing and evaluation of autonomous unmanned systems — a move that follows increased focus from the service on unmanned technology in general.
The new facility at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, FL, will support the service’s “crucial seabed warfare mission by accelerating the development and deployment of critical operational capabilities,” according to a Wednesday news release.
The center’s direct access to the Gulf of Mexico will allow for unmanned systems developed there to be easily launched and recovered, the release added.
“This project is about strengthening our ability to deliver critical solutions to the fleet,” Capt. Paul Stence, Jr., NSWC PCD commanding officer, said in a statement. “The undersea domain is of increasing strategic importance, and this facility will enable us to maintain our competitive edge. The true strength of this building lies in the talented individuals who will work here. This project is a testament to the hard work and dedication of countless individuals who are supporting the warfighters both now and, in the future, and this facility will provide the tools and resources they need to excel.”
Construction on the new facility begins as the Navy has taken a widespread approach to testing and improving upon unmanned technology — including the use of a “confidence course” to test run unmanned underwater vehicles in Keyport, Washington. This course has held dozens of test runs in the past year, Submarine Forces Commander Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher said in March.
“We’ve taken a lesson from some of the self-driving cars, and in particular, when they built the Google car, they built a city in California to just practice driving the streets for autonomy purposes,” Gaucher said during a panel on autonomous undersea warfare at the Hudson Institute. “So, we’ve built our underwater version of that up in the Keyport area.”
Originally published Inside Defense