The Navy has established the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Warfighting Development Center, a new organization tasked with creating tactics, techniques and procedures for the service’s unmanned systems. The center was established during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Virginia Beach, according to Breaking Defense.
Known as RASWDC, the center is headquartered at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia. The Navy has also assigned it responsibility for overseeing the operational employment of robotics and autonomous systems capabilities. That gives the organization a role in both developing how the systems will be used and supporting their employment across the fleet.
RASWDC is developing a phased implementation plan that addresses command structure, mission relationships and resource requirements. The plan is intended to guide the center’s development as the Navy establishes the organization and determines how it will carry out its responsibilities.
The center is designed to draw on expertise from across the Navy and from organizations outside traditional naval power communities. Its purpose is to connect separate efforts and bring them into a more coherent operational enterprise. The Navy has said that work underway in one part of the fleet should inform work being conducted elsewhere, while sailors and operators who employ the systems remain at the center of the conversation.
That approach reflects the Navy’s effort to coordinate the development and use of systems that have been pursued across different parts of the service. Rather than replacing expertise already present in the Navy, RASWDC is intended to connect it as the service works on tactics, procedures and operational employment for robotics and autonomous systems.
The center’s creation coincides with the establishment in August of the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Robotic and Autonomous Systems, or DRPM RAS. The portfolio manager is intended to advance robotics and autonomous systems acquisition and fielding across the Navy and Marine Corps. RASWDC and DRPM RAS are designed to work in close coordination, with testing and training information from the development center supporting the fielding of the systems.
The division of responsibilities places RASWDC on the warfighting development and operational-employment side of the Navy’s robotics and autonomous systems effort, while DRPM RAS focuses on acquisition and fielding. The two organizations therefore address different parts of the effort while working toward the broader integration of unmanned capabilities into naval operations.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle has previously advocated for a warfighting and development center focused on robotics and autonomous systems. The Navy already maintains comparable organizations for communities such as aviation, surface warfare and mine warfare. Caudle has also called for unmanned capabilities to move beyond individual units and become part of composite mission sets.
The organization’s creation follows Caudle’s February “Fighting Instructions” framework, which introduced a “hedge force strategy” pairing unmanned systems with traditionally manned platforms. The strategy is intended to give combatant commanders a range of options tailored to operational needs. The guidance also directed the Navy to determine how fleet commanders and the joint force will incorporate robotics and autonomous systems into decisions involving strategic laydown, dispersal and global force management.
RASWDC’s phased implementation plan remains in development. Its stated areas of focus include the center’s command structure, its mission relationships and the resources required to establish it. Those decisions will shape the Navy’s organization for developing tactics, techniques and procedures and for overseeing the operational employment of robotics and autonomous systems.