Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have conducted the largest demonstration of interoperable maritime autonomous systems to date under the AUKUS Pillar II Maritime Big Play initiative.

Held around San Diego in the United States, Maritime Big Play Pacific brought together Defence personnel, scientists and industry partners from the three nations to accelerate capability development and strengthen trilateral interoperability of these capabilities.

Over three weeks Maritime Big Play Pacific demonstrated the ability of AUKUS partners to integrate autonomous systems and the technologies that enable them to carry out complex missions in realistic scenarios. 

Using autonomous aerial and surface platforms, and large uncrewed, undersea vehicles, AUKUS Partners conducted intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, contested resupply operations, established an anti-submarine warfare barrier, and undertook undersea warfare experimentation. 

Maritime Big Play Pacific also demonstrated the growing maturity of enabling technologies developed through AUKUS Pillar II, including acoustic communications technologies that enable uncrewed systems to operate collaboratively across greater distances underwater.

This activity marked the culmination of three years of joint trilateral experimentation and exercises through the Maritime Big Play series.

It’s a practical demonstration of AUKUS partners’ commitment to improving interoperability and increasing the scale, sophistication, and operational utility of autonomous maritime systems.

Quotes attributable to First Assistant Secretary Defence Trade, Regulation and AUKUS Advanced Capabilities, David Nockels:

"Through initiatives like Maritime Big Play, we are strengthening interoperability, and building the capabilities needed to operate effectively in an increasingly complex security environment.

“AUKUS Pillar II is accelerating the delivery of advanced capabilities that strengthen the ability of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to operate together.

"Maritime Big Play Pacific demonstrates how our three nations are turning innovation into practical military capability at a speed faster than any one nation could achieve alone.

"These activities reinforce our collective ability to contribute to stability, security and deterrence across the Indo-Pacific.”

Media Note

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