14 February 2025
Royal Australian Navy deployable undersea warfare forces have joined the US Navy and Royal Navy in furthering subsea and seabed warfare (SSW) in an AUKUS Pillar II Undersea Warfare advanced capabilities event at Norfolk, Virginia.
SSW focuses on Navy understanding and exploiting the entire water column from the surface to ocean floor to monitor, protect and defend Australia’s undersea critical infrastructure.
AUKUS Pillar II, an agreement between Australia, the UK and the US, promotes the development of advanced technologies and the integration of capabilities across the partner nations.
Undersea Warfare is one of the agreed areas of focus and SSW is at the vanguard of this effort, using advanced technology to exploit and understand the undersea environment.
The event involved cutting-edge robotic and autonomous systems using artificial intelligence and machine learning enabled systems, and demonstrated the progress being made through the AUKUS partnership, drawing on the inaugural November 2023 AUKUS SSW exercise in Sydney.
Navy’s Maritime Geospatial Warfare Unit (MGWU) and Maritime Deployable Robotic Autonomous Systems and Experimentation Unit (MDREU) teams joined Australian civilian experts and AUKUS partners at a two-week event hosted by the US Navy, focusing on the protection of critical undersea infrastructure.
'The ability to monitor and protect our undersea critical infrastructure is vital to Australia’s domestic security and prosperity, and Navy is leading the way in this area.'
Most of Australia’s international communications are routed via subsea cables. Monitoring and protecting domestic maritime infrastructure, such as at ports and harbours, is vital for Australia’s security and prosperity.
The dangers to undersea cables and pipelines have been highlighted recently with several incidents of large vessels interfering and damaging undersea cables, drawing international attention and concern.
Commander US Submarine Forces Vice Admiral Rob Gaucher said the exercise demonstrated AUKUS’ ability to integrate advanced undersea technologies and operate seamlessly as teammates.
“This Integrated Battle Problem includes participants from all three partner nations and employs unmanned and hybrid systems to demonstrate our ability to defend our critical undersea infrastructure,” Vice Admiral Gaucher said.
“Building on our last Integrated Battle Problem in Australia, it further showcases the collective strength of three of the world’s most capable maritime partners.”
The Australian team deployed a number of robotic and autonomous vehicles, which enabled effective identification, monitoring and neutralisation of seabed threats, including defending undersea infrastructure, salvaging equipment and disarming hazardous objects.
'Building on our last Integrated Battle Problem in Australia, it further showcases the collective strength of three of the world’s most capable maritime partners.'
Commander Ian Jackson, the Australian detachment commander said: “The Australian team deployed to the United States with portable equipment to operate off a USN-provided ship in a harsh environment for a complex and integrated Subsea Warfare exercise. The challenges operating in this environment are considerable, but the team formed a lasting highly professional partnership with our AUKUS partners to problem solve, interact cohesively and win at sea.
“The ability to monitor and protect our undersea critical infrastructure is vital to Australia’s domestic security and prosperity, and Navy is leading the way in this area.”
Chief Petty Officer Alan Hopkinson said his team focused on a different battle problem to what they traditionally encountered.
“Having the opportunity to rapidly deploy these systems, to test them at deeper depths and operate in challenging conditions has been an invaluable experience that raises the collective knowledge, decision-making, processes and capabilities of the partnership in regard to the employment and operation of Uncrewed Underwater Vessels,” Chief Petty Officer Hopkinson said.
“We get access to the capabilities that our American and United Kingdom counterparts utilise, and we’re integrating the knowledge gained from this event to inform our capability realisation from an Australian standpoint.”
This AUKUS SSW event formed part of a series of collaborative exercises aimed at enhancing AUKUS Pillar II undersea warfare advanced capabilities. The AUKUS teams will continue refining their skills in 2025.
