U.S. Navy Gives Unmanned Systems Their Own Warfighting Development Center
The U.S. Navy is taking more steps to restructure its unmanned-system programs, putting operational integration work under the newly-created Robotic and Autonomous Systems Warfighting Development Center (RASWDC, pronounced "Razz-Widdick").
It is the latest in a long string of administrative structures housing various aspects of unmanned systems innovation in the Navy: Third Fleet's Surface Development Squadron One (SURFDEVRON One), the Navy's first real home for unmanned surface vessels; NAVSEA's Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO USC); the short-lived Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Robotic and Autonomous Systems (PAE RAS); and the newly-created Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Robotic and Autonomous Systems (DRPM RAS).
RASWDC will live at Base Little Creek-Fort Story, seven miles east of Norfolk Naval Station. Its role will be a "dedicated, Fleet-facing operational integration point for robotic and autonomous capabilities" - that is, getting the new systems bought by DRPM RAS to work out in the fleet.
Public-facing promotional materials suggest that RASWDC is now the Navy's sole unmanned-systems office, but there is a clear division of labor, the Navy said in a statement. The one-month-old DRPM RAS - in the person of Christopher Miller, who is also the chief developer and buyer of surface combatants, Program Acquisition Executive Maritime - will be accountable for buying, budgeting and setting technical standards for autonomous systems, reporting to Performing the Duties of Under Secretary of the Navy William Toti. Meanwhile, RASWDC will be responsible for "operational employment" of all unmanned systems, reporting to Fleet Forces Command. This includes equipment testing, but the center will also develop the tactics, techniques and procedures to put the equipment to use in a conflict environment.
“Our purpose here is to consolidate the Navy’s autonomous efforts across air, surface, and undersea domains, and give them a single home here at Little Creek. Our mandate is straightforward: educate our warfighters, equip the Fleet with tools that actually survive the environment, and develop the combined tactics to employ them decisively. We are here to make sure our forces don't just field unmanned systems, but dominate with them," said Rear Adm. Melvin Smith, the first commander of RASWDC.
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RASWDC is not taking command of existing unmanned-systems units out in the fleet, nor is it absorbing their responsibilities, so a diversity of local innovation (like the work of Fifth Fleet's Task Force 59) can continue.
For now, DPRM RAS procurement staff will stay in Washington, but there have been talks about moving them out closer to the fleet as well.
