US Navy's Unmanned Surface Vessels, named Ranger and Mariner have made a historic arrival at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, marking the first-ever visit of Navy USVs to Japan. These vessels, under the purview of Unmanned Surface Vessel Division 1, have actively participated in the Integrated Battle Problem 23.2 exercise. This exercise is specifically designed to assess and advance concepts and capabilities concerning medium and large Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) within the Indo-Pacific region. Notably, this exercise marks the inaugural deployment of USVs within the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

“Unmanned and autonomous technologies are key to growing our distributed maritime operations framework,” said Rear Adm. Blake Converse, deputy commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, in a Navy news release. “By proliferating our presence in the Pacific and increasing the fleet’s situational awareness and lethality, we give ourselves more options to make better decisions at all levels of leadership.”

In May 2022, the Navy established USVDIV-1 with the primary objective of expediting the integration of unmanned vehicles into the Navy's operational fleet. This command encompasses not only the Mariner and Ranger vessels but also includes medium unmanned surface vessels, namely the Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk. These vessels played an active role in the 2022 Rim of the Pacific exercise, contributing to the Navy's ongoing efforts to incorporate unmanned technology into its operations.

Integrated Battle Problem 23.2, which commenced in August, represents the Navy's third multi-domain exercise focused on unmanned capabilities within the Pacific Fleet's experimentation plan. The primary objective of this exercise is to foster the advancement of concepts related to Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs). USVDIV-1 is actively collaborating with type commanders as part of this effort to contribute to the development and refinement of USV concepts.

“Our approach is focused on integrating, exercising, and refining tactics, techniques, and procedures for immediate application into real-world operations with the fleet,” Cmdr. Jeremiah Daley, commanding officer of USVDIV-1, said in a Navy news release.

“We continue to turn fleet feedback from exercises into adapting technology and requirement generation in order to provide realistic and impactful capabilities that future USV programs of record will bring to the Navy,” he said.

USVDIV-1 also played an active role in the recently conducted Large Scale Exercise 2023, which took place last month. This exercise brought together a substantial contingent of 25,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel to assess their ability to effectively coordinate large-scale formations while confronting realistic scenarios akin to those encountered in potential conflicts.

Notably, the exercise encompassed six carrier strike groups, comprising two live groups and four virtual ones, distributed across all seven U.S. fleets. During the Large Scale Exercise, the Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) seamlessly integrated with the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and its strike group, showcasing their operational versatility.

Vice Adm. Scott Conn, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities, previously disclosed to Defense News in April that the Navy is actively pursuing the goal of operating both manned and unmanned platforms within the next decade, underscoring the Navy's commitment to technological advancement and strategic flexibility.

Image source: Japan Times