The US Navy has awarded a prime contract for Elbit Systems of America to develop and demonstrate autonomous maritime target tracking capability.
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The company’s autonomous systems prototype is expected to be used to find, fix, and track maritime targets for the United States Navy’s Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP).
The company will test the autonomy, artificial intelligence, automatic target recognition and undersea payload delivery capabilities of its prototype during sea demonstrations over the next 12 months.
The prototype includes expertise from Sparton and Logos Technologies subsidiaries, as well as partners Alare Technologies and Nauticus Robotics.
“Our selection as a prime contractor for the Navy’s Information Warfare Research Project validates that our company’s portfolio is in alignment with the US National Defense Strategy,” said company president and chief executive officer Raanan Horowitz.
“We are committed to strengthening our country’s national security and we’re investing in critical maritime technologies such as unmanned systems and sensors, attritable payloads, and undersea connectivity solutions to ensure that we can continue to innovate capabilities most needed by our customers.”
The IWRP aims to improve connectivity of US and allied forces across land, air, sea, space and cyberspace by covertly finding, fixing, and tracking maritime targets as directed by operational commanders.
Elbit America maritime business vice-president Jeff Hoyle said the advanced prototype will enhance distributed maritime operations by employing multi-domain unmanned systems that can collaborate autonomously to identify and report targets of interest, while operating in contested environments.