Latest news with #TaskForceX
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NATO put its new Task Force X naval drones built to stop sabotage and blunt Russian aggression to the test
New NATO naval drones are being put to the test in the Baltic Sea. The uncrewed surface vehicles are part of the alliance's efforts to deter aggression and sabotage. The new Task Force X is reminiscent of the US Navy's Task Force 59 efforts. The NATO alliance has been testing new Task Force X naval drones in the strategic waters of the Baltic Sea, showing off the new capabilities of these uncrewed systems. The drones are intended to help the allies keep an eye on Russia's activities in the region and deter the potential sabotage of critical undersea infrastructure such as data cables. NATO Allied Command Transformation announced the drone demonstrations Wednesday, saying they "signal a significant step forward in integrating unmanned surface vessels, commonly referred to as USVs, to bolster NATO's ability to safeguard critical infrastructure and maintain security in an increasingly complex environment." French Adm. Pierre Vandier, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, said Task Force X will fill surveillance gaps in the region. Bart Hollants, an official from NATO's Allied Command Transformation Branch, called it "the first tangible results" of NATO's efforts to curb security threats in the Baltic. The demonstration involved NATO maritime assets, including from the Royal Danish and German navies, testing how drones work together with crewed vessels. The testing activities included tactical maneuvering exercises like live-fire events with the goal of integrating drones into NATO's naval forces. NATO announced its plans to establish Task Force X and employ naval drones in late January. The aim of the project is to counter and deter state and non-state actors from sabotaging undersea cables, as well as curb potential Russian aggression. Task Force X is working to field "a fleet of maritime autonomous systems to provide persistent surveillance, detect and track potential threats, and enhance situational awareness," NATO said. "This approach offers a cost-effective and rapidly deployable solution to counter Russian aggression." The move came after several incidents in which undersea cables in the Baltic were damaged by vessels linked to Russia and China. These troubling incidents were suspected of being part of Russia's ongoing hybrid and irregular warfare tactics against Western European nations, gray-zone tactics below the threshold of armed conflict. Other recent examples include Russian interference in European elections and misinformation campaigns. Concern about the targeting of critical undersea cables and related infrastructure has led NATO to take action. NATO's new Task Force X, the alliance said, is similar to the US Navy's Task Force 59, an initiative fielding naval drones in the Middle East. Task Force 59 is a first-of-its-kind Navy initiative started in September 2021. Since then, the task force has conducted at least 35 bilateral and multilateral exercises, operating drones at sea for more than 60,000 hours across the Middle East. Both the US Navy and NATO's efforts speak to the growing employment of uncrewed systems and, to some degree, autonomy in surveillance and deterrence roles. In both cases, the drones are intended to give military forces more options for missions, as well as a wider reach in troubled waters. There are still plenty of unknowns about how these systems will be further integrated into naval warfare for both the US and NATO, though. Ukraine's use of drone boats to pummel Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been a notable win and asymmetric element in the war in Ukraine. "The integration of autonomous systems also raises important issues such as command and control, data security, and the ethical implications of using artificial intelligence in warfare," NATO said in its release on the testing. "NATO is aware of these issues and is developing safeguards and protocols to ensure the responsible use of these technologies." Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NATO put its new Task Force X naval drones built to stop sabotage and blunt Russian aggression to the test
New NATO naval drones are being put to the test in the Baltic Sea. The uncrewed surface vehicles are part of the alliance's efforts to deter aggression and sabotage. The new Task Force X is reminiscent of the US Navy's Task Force 59 efforts. The NATO alliance has been testing new Task Force X naval drones in the strategic waters of the Baltic Sea, showing off the new capabilities of these uncrewed systems. The drones are intended to help the allies keep an eye on Russia's activities in the region and deter the potential sabotage of critical undersea infrastructure such as data cables. NATO Allied Command Transformation announced the drone demonstrations Wednesday, saying they "signal a significant step forward in integrating unmanned surface vessels, commonly referred to as USVs, to bolster NATO's ability to safeguard critical infrastructure and maintain security in an increasingly complex environment." French Adm. Pierre Vandier, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, said Task Force X will fill surveillance gaps in the region. Bart Hollants, an official from NATO's Allied Command Transformation Branch, called it "the first tangible results" of NATO's efforts to curb security threats in the Baltic. The demonstration involved NATO maritime assets, including from the Royal Danish and German navies, testing how drones work together with crewed vessels. The testing activities included tactical maneuvering exercises like live-fire events with the goal of integrating drones into NATO's naval forces. NATO announced its plans to establish Task Force X and employ naval drones in late January. The aim of the project is to counter and deter state and non-state actors from sabotaging undersea cables, as well as curb potential Russian aggression. Task Force X is working to field "a fleet of maritime autonomous systems to provide persistent surveillance, detect and track potential threats, and enhance situational awareness," NATO said. "This approach offers a cost-effective and rapidly deployable solution to counter Russian aggression." The move came after several incidents in which undersea cables in the Baltic were damaged by vessels linked to Russia and China. These troubling incidents were suspected of being part of Russia's ongoing hybrid and irregular warfare tactics against Western European nations, gray-zone tactics below the threshold of armed conflict. Other recent examples include Russian interference in European elections and misinformation campaigns. Concern about the targeting of critical undersea cables and related infrastructure has led NATO to take action. NATO's new Task Force X, the alliance said, is similar to the US Navy's Task Force 59, an initiative fielding naval drones in the Middle East. Task Force 59 is a first-of-its-kind Navy initiative started in September 2021. Since then, the task force has conducted at least 35 bilateral and multilateral exercises, operating drones at sea for more than 60,000 hours across the Middle East. Both the US Navy and NATO's efforts speak to the growing employment of uncrewed systems and, to some degree, autonomy in surveillance and deterrence roles. In both cases, the drones are intended to give military forces more options for missions, as well as a wider reach in troubled waters. There are still plenty of unknowns about how these systems will be further integrated into naval warfare for both the US and NATO, though. Ukraine's use of drone boats to pummel Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been a notable win and asymmetric element in the war in Ukraine. "The integration of autonomous systems also raises important issues such as command and control, data security, and the ethical implications of using artificial intelligence in warfare," NATO said in its release on the testing. "NATO is aware of these issues and is developing safeguards and protocols to ensure the responsible use of these technologies." Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NATO trials naval drones in Baltic Sea demo
MILAN — NATO showed off its underwater surveillance capabilities in an unmanned surface vessel demonstration in the Baltic Sea as part of alliance efforts to deter acts of sabotage against critical undersea infrastructure in the strategic area. The trials took place in waters near Denmark from Feb. 17 to 20 and involved integrating manned and unmanned assets in live-firing events and tactical maneuvers. Participating drone boats were fielded through the Task Force X initiative established earlier this month by the alliance's top transformation branch as part of patrolling activities in Baltic waters. 'It provides a framework for all nations to contribute by enabling the deployment of their autonomous capabilities. … This collaborative effort will fill gaps in surveillance, particularly in areas not covered by existing systems like the Automatic Identification System,' Adm. Pierre Vander, commander of NATO's Allied Command Transformation, said in a press release. Additional ships from NATO's Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, the Royal Danish and German Navies took part in the demonstration. In a recent interview with Defense News, as Vandier detailed plans for the alliance's first fleet of naval surveillance drones, he hinted that it was likely to be equipped with proven platforms that would lean on experiments by the U.S. Navy's Task Force 59. TF59 is a unit dedicated to integrating unmanned systems and artificial intelligence in the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet area of operations that operates out of Bahrain. However, according to an Allied Maritime Command press release, Task Force X will also leverage successful campaigns such as the U.S. Navy's TF66, which experiments with uncrewed systems in the Europe-Africa area of responsibility. Established in 2023, the group is made up of civilian and military personnel that put a variety of unmanned maritime systems to the test in bodies of water faced with different challenges than in the Gulf region. Last year, it launched a pilot program centered on boosting maritime domain awareness, during which it tested the autonomous underwater and surface vessels of the Ocean Aero Triton platform, as reported by USNI News.
