SAN DIEGO – The commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet on Wednesday said his command will stand up the second operational Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) squadron in May but was unwilling to disclose what capabilities it would use.
“These are the human beings. This is not a contractor-owned contractor-operated capability, but this is a uniformed capability that we’ll be able to own, operate unmanned capabilities that can be employed within particular spaces,” Adm. Samuel Paparo told the audience here Wednesday at the WEST 2024 conference, co-hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA.
However, Paparo stayed tight-lipped on what kind of capabilities the unit would use.
“The principal element within warfare is the element of operational security. So our most exquisite capabilities, if I’m doing my job, you won’t be knowing about it.”
He said the Pacific Fleet will be executing many experiments with the squadron quietly “for the simple reason that we don’t want to expose it to an adversary that would emplace a counter to that capability.”
When pressed, Paparo argued they are balancing the “probability of [a potential opponent] quickly effecting a counter to it against what combat capability does it deter, and that’s an equation that’s in our heads.”
Paparo added that it is purposeful that the Navy has not revealed what kind of experimentation the Pacific Fleet is doing with unmanned vessels compared to the more open experimentation by Task Force 59 in 5th Fleet and 4th Fleet.
“There’s a good reason why you haven’t heard about what we’re doing. And it ain’t because we ain’t doing anything and I think you’re tracking that already.”
However, he did reveal Pacific Fleet will execute Integrated Battle Problem 24.1 starting in March “that will further demonstrate and test and experiment with the concept.”
Previous battle problems have tested the Overlord and Medium Displacement USVs in the Pacific Ocean.
He noted that those USVs and MDUSVs logged over 50,000 miles over seven months of operations in the Pacific, with experiments adding SM-6 launchers to some of them, experimentation with decoys and electronic warfare packages, and integrating the various unmanned vessels and aircraft together with crewed systems.
Paparo said Pacific Fleet has concepts for the USV employment and he viewed the work of Task Force 59 and 4th Fleet as “complementary battle labs that contribute to a concept of unmanned and autonomous operations that will, in fact, augment and complement our ability to employ those capabilities when the unforgiving hour comes.”
Notably, Task Force 59’s use of USVs is in a contractor-owned contractor-operated capability. However, those vehicles are not armed and do not run on unclassified systems. They are used to observe an area and transmit any classified information to ground bases, so if the vehicles are captured no government data would be recovered.
Separately, during a WEST conference panel, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant for combat development and integration and commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC), said the service plans to soon test a new small USV designed to quietly carry two Naval Strike Missiles to Marines ashore, the Autonomous Low Profile Vessel (ALPV).
He said the Marine Corps will soon be conducting a Project Convergence Capstone 4 event based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., with allies and partners that will include a demonstration of the two new ALPVs. Heckl underscored these new vessels take inspiration from Caribbean narco submarines used to smuggle narcotics into the U.S.
Heckl said ALPV “is essentially a narco sub – we copied the drug runners down south. And this thing is form fit function to carry two Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) and resupply. So that’s lethality.”
Heckl also told reporters on the sideline of the panel that the producer of the drone is a small “mom and pop shop” but if the Marine Corps ultimately procures the platform in large numbers, they will need to use a larger production contractor.
He boasted the price is so low they “can be considered expendable if lost,” Heckl continued.
He said the ALPVs have proven very hard to track because they produce almost no wake in the water and the service has demonstrated they can be launched and recovered from Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport ships and the contracted Stern Landing Vessels (SLVs).
The Marine Corps is using SLVs to test out concepts for the future Landing Ship Medium (LSM) vessels. Heckl said the ALPV is specifically geared to transport the two NSMs for use in the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System.
The Marine Corps has developed a Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary (ROGUE) Fires launcher fitted on a modified unmanned Joint Light Tactical Vehicle chassis to fire NSMs to increase anti-ship capabilities.
According to a January Army news release, Project Convergence Capstone 4 will run from February 23 to March 20. Non-U.S. participants will include the U.K., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, France and Japan.