The Navy issued a notice calling for proposals for participation in the 2020 Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) event.
Proposals for ANTX are due by Dec. 4, while Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport intends to announce selections by Jan. 17, 2020.
Other scheduled events include an initial planning meeting with all participants scheduled for Feb. 20, 2020, at NUWC Division Newport, mid-planning meeting at Newport on April 15, and an execution meeting and test readiness reviews with all participants at Newport on July 22.
ANTX 2020 is currently schedule to occur in August/September next year, with a Commander, Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC) culminating event in October 2020.
The Navy created ANTX to help test future technology, bringing small and large companies together with academia and the military warfare centers, Navy commands, industry, and academic institutions invited to showcase technologies and capabilities during the test event, particularly autonomous systems.
The service notes “ANTX provides a low risk environment where scientists, engineers, and sailors can evaluate technological innovations at the research and development level before they become militarized and interfaced within Navy operations.”
This upcoming ANTX is specifically soliciting for enhancements and “leap ahead technologies” to collect, process, and exploit accurate, relevant, and timely oceanographic, atmospheric, precise time, and astrometric information.
“Of particular interest is the employment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Unmanned Systems (UxS) to act as force multipliers in achieving mission objectives,” the notice read.
The 2020 ANTX will have the NUWC Divisions Newport and Keyport work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Naval Meteorology and Oceanographic Command.
The notice said, “This year’s focus is to support the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO’s) Task Force Ocean (TFO) initiative aimed at maintaining the Navy’s undersea dominance through the ability to understand and exploit the ocean environment by re-invigorating Navy-relevant ocean science, increasing the Navy’s capability and capacity to understand and exploit knowledge of the ocean environment, and better leveraging the full range of science and technology (S&T) development in the United States.”
It added this focus will support the Naval meteorology and Oceanographic Command mission of “defining and applying the physical environment, from the bottom of the ocean to the stars, to ensure that the U.S. Navy has the freedom of action to deter aggression, maintain freedom of the seas and win wars.”
The notice underscored NOAA’s participation with ANTX focuses on possible applications of artificial intelligence and unmanned systems to explore and define the physical environment for NOAA’s civilian mission to help understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts.
ANTX accepts, if selected, both unclassified and Secret-level exercises, with those deemed classified scheduled independently from the ANTX planning schedule.
The notice allows for international participation in ANTX under a CNMOC Gulf of Mexico location.