The Navy has launched the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Warfighting Development Center, giving the service a dedicated organization to develop tactics, techniques and procedures for unmanned systems. The center, known as RASWDC, was established during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Virginia and is intended to connect capability development with the operational use of robotic and autonomous systems, the Navy announcement reported by Breaking Defense said.
RASWDC is headquartered at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach. Its initial work includes a phased implementation plan addressing command structure, relationships between missions and resource requirements. The command also has responsibility for overseeing the operational employment of robotic and autonomous systems, according to the Navy.
The center is being created to bring together efforts that have been distributed across the fleet and other parts of the Navy. Rear Adm. Melvin Smith, RASWDC’s commander, said the organization would connect expertise and make work in one part of the fleet inform work elsewhere. He also emphasized that sailors and operators who use the systems should remain central to the process.
RASWDC’s stated responsibilities include developing tactics, techniques and procedures for unmanned systems and overseeing the operational employment of robotic and autonomous systems. The Navy described the organization as a way to connect separate efforts into a more coherent operational enterprise. The center’s implementation plan is expected to address how the organization will operate, including its command structure, mission relationships and resource requirements.
The center will work alongside the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Robotic and Autonomous Systems, or DRPM RAS, which the Navy established in August. The two organizations are designed to operate in close coordination. Testing and training information produced through the development center is intended to support the broader effort to advance robotic and autonomous systems acquisition and fielding across the Navy and Marine Corps.
The launch follows months of stated interest from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle in creating a warfighting and development center for robotic and autonomous systems. The Navy already uses comparable centers for communities including aviation, surface warfare and mine warfare. Caudle has said unmanned capabilities need to move beyond individual units and be organized into composite mission sets.
The new center also follows Caudle’s February “Fighting Instructions” framework. That guidance introduced a “hedge force strategy” built around pairing unmanned systems with traditionally manned platforms to give combatant commanders tailored options. It also directed the Navy to determine how fleet commanders and the joint force should integrate robotic and autonomous systems into decisions involving strategic laydown, dispersal and global force management.
The immediate task is organizational. RASWDC is developing the phased plan that defines its command relationships, mission connections and resource needs. The Navy’s stated objective is to create a feedback loop between capability development and operational employment so that testing, training and fleet use can inform the systems being developed and fielded. The center’s launch establishes the organization responsible for developing the tactics, techniques and procedures that will guide the operational use of robotic and autonomous systems.