Navy, Coast Guard Onboarding Artificial Intelligence Tech.

• Author: Lee, Connie

The U.S. maritime services are looking at ways to better incorporate artificial intelligence technologies into their fleets to enhance their effectiveness.

"The one thing that I think is really going to be transformative here is... artificial intelligence," said Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, chief of naval research. "I really, truly believe that if we can master this, if we can bring this to all of our capabilities whether it's your iPhone, or your combat system on your ship, this is going to take us to the next level." The Navy is looking to automate repetitive processes to allow operators time to complete more complex tasks or pay attention to other matters, he said during the Defense Department's Joint Artificial Intelligence Symposium and

Exposition, which was held online due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Doing so "frees up your brain," he said. "When you can automate all that stuff and not even think about it and the machine is now helping you, you now go to the next level. You've got more time to think and ponder and put things together."

To develop these technologies, the Navy is holding what it calls the AVENGER Naval AI Grand Challenge between the service, naval laboratories and the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. The effort is intended to develop new technologies and capabilities within 18 months, according to the service.

"Changing the way we work together [and the way] we team is critical," said Brett Vaughan, the Navy's chief AI officer. "We need efforts like this."

Participants are working in small teams to be more agile, he noted. Typically, work on testing, evaluation and requirements are completed separately. However, the service is testing the idea of doing these jobs simultaneously, he noted.

"For AI, they need to be done in parallel and simultaneously and as much in the same virtual space--if not physical--as possible," he said. Those "small teams... are really the heart of how we start to change this big ship of culture that is the Navy to a more digital, nimble and effective creature on a playing field."

Additionally, the Navy is looking at how it can automate system maintenance, Selby said. Artificial intelligence can be used to detect potential areas of failure in systems such as aircraft, surface vessels and submarines before they become problems, he noted.

"It's the oil-based, lube oil systems, the reduction gears, the propulsion systems, the turbines, the electrical plan--all of those things can be properly monitored"...