Navy Puts AI, Unmanned Systems to the Test in Five-Sea, 60-Nation Exercise

A massive naval exercise underway in the Middle East is incorporating unmanned vehicles and artificial intelligence to test out ways to improve maritime awareness across a large geographic area.

“These [14 training scenarios] were developed over the planning process to offer participating forces the opportunity to demonstrate the tremendous potential for unmanned systems and artificial intelligence to solve some of the complex problems we have here in the maritime environment,” Cmdr. Tom McAndrew, the lead planner for Task Force X, which oversees the unmanned elements of the exercise, told reporters Wednesday.

This year, Fifth Fleet combined its International Maritime Exercise 2022 with 6th Fleet’s Cutlass Express exercise to increase cooperation between the fleets and develop relationships between other participants. The 18-day naval exercise involves 9,000 people and 50 ships from 60 nations, according to the Navy. Its operations are taking place in the Arabian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Red Sea, and the North Indian Sea.