Navy to Launch AI Prototyping Exercises
Starting this summer, SCOUT campaigns will have two experimentation tracks, according to Nextgov, with one focused on using new technologies for enterprise problems and the other consisting of technology sprints between Navy officials and participating companies to enable faster decision-making.
According to the CSO, SCOUT efforts are being done in coordination with U.S. Southern Command and the Joint Interagency Task Force South. Specifically, companies selected by the Navy to participate are being called upon to help enhance detection and monitoring capabilities, with a focus on tactics and technologies.
Over the summer, the Navy will use the sprints to “foment learning and innovation to rapidly develop technologies and techniques to improve warfighting capability and assist in quicker leadership decision making.” Depending upon how the sprints go, some technologies may be used in follow-up SCOUT events or exercises with the fleet.
“SCOUT will provide government and industry/academia participants a collaborative, low-risk environment to demonstrate technologies at the unique laboratories and ranges available across the Naval Research and Development Establishment, while practicing operators and planners simultaneously explore advanced tactics and assess the operational relevance of emerging technologies,” the document states.
The next phase after the sprints could involve 10 to 12 months of prototyping and experimentation projects that “progress through more complex scenarios and environments,” and certain “highly valued and mature technologies” might be fielded to operational units under certain contract terms.
“SCOUT is a critical component in what the department of the Navy is doing overall in terms of its Unmanned Campaign,” Jason Stack, ONR technical director, tells Nextgov.