Enabling autonomous naval warfare with off-the-shelf systems

Enabling autonomous naval warfare with off-the-shelf systems
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 21, 2024

Naval warfare continues to evolve, with uncrewed systems poised to play a critical role as near-peer adversaries expand their fleets. These technologies will help the U.S. Navy project power and enhance mission execution capabilities.

Northrop Grumman, a leader in autonomous systems technology, has developed two key autonomous capabilities for smaller uncrewed aerial systems (UAS): Helix and Scion. These systems aim to convert existing commercial uncrewed platforms into highly resilient and capable combat and surveillance assets. During the 2024 Silent Swarm exercise at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, these technologies successfully demonstrated their potential by addressing gaps in maritime domain awareness and providing secure means to locate and track targets in maritime operations.

As the Navy explores new methods for enhancing its communications and electronic warfare (EW) range, Northrop Grumman's Scion payload offers a solution designed for surface operations. Scion integrates seamlessly with commercial uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) using a common interface. Meanwhile, Helix coordinates multiple uncrewed platforms and payloads, enabling autonomous, multi-domain operations. A key feature of Helix is its digital twin technology, which allows operators to visualize the battlespace in a virtual, 3D environment.

"We developed an initial proof of concept for Scion's capabilities for the Navy in 2023," said Matt O'Driscoll, chief engineer for Scion at Northrop Grumman. "Building on last year's successful demonstration, we added five uncrewed systems in the air and two on the surface for this year's Silent Swarm exercise and all of the systems worked collaboratively and autonomously to find target vessels."

In the Silent Swarm demonstration, Northrop Grumman deployed a USV equipped with the Scion payload, which collaborated with Helix-controlled UAVs to detect, track, and target vessels. The Helix software managed the operation, providing a real-time, multi-layered view of the mission. Through this collaboration, Scion further enhanced the Helix ecosystem's uncrewed mission capabilities.

"At Silent Swarm, we showcased the combination of the Helix software and the Scion payload as an EW system capable of finding and locating radio frequency emissions over the water," added Tyler Dillstrom, chief engineer for Helix at Northrop Grumman. "Our autonomy software in control of the USVs used those detections to correlate, identify and track targets from the air and on the surface."

Looking forward, the success of maritime missions will depend on the ability to command a variety of uncrewed vehicles, each equipped with different payloads. Northrop Grumman's efforts at Silent Swarm highlight its dedication to digital engineering and the ability to deploy solutions quickly and cost-effectively. The company's use of digital environments to simulate mission scenarios contributes to reducing program costs and ensuring high-quality results. These innovations reinforce Northrop Grumman's long-standing role in delivering trusted autonomous solutions across all domains.

Intelligent autonomous platforms will continue to enhance naval warfare, acting as force multipliers to extend mission capabilities and reallocate valuable resources for critical tasks.