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The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division tested emerging electromagnetic disruption equipment developed by civilian contractors in Alpena, Mich. during Exercise Silent Swarm 2023. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Maj. Megan Breen).
LONDON — A US Navy surface warfare center is seeking industry and government agencies to participate in a July 2024 exercise focused on demonstrating early-stage unmanned systems’ capabilities to fight on the electromagnetic battlefield.
The event, dubbed Silent Swarm 2024, will be hosted by Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, Ind., and will feature “swarming, small, attritable” unmanned systems capable of distributed electromagnetic attack, deception and digital payload delivery. The tech must be within readiness levels (TRL) two to five. (The Pentagon uses the TRL scale, from one to nine, to measure how conceptual or proven a technology is; the higher the number the more advanced a system is thought to be.)
“Silent Swarm experimentation culminates with a series of vignettes, which allow for individual technology initiatives to collaboratively operate in teams to demonstrate operationally relevant objectives in a multi-domain environment, to include land, air, sea, undersea, cyber, and space,” according to the public notice the service published on Sept. 8. Responses are due by Oct. 16.
The Navy has a network of warfare centers, spread throughout the United States, and are part of the service’s research and development enterprise designed to help generate and test upcoming technologies.
“Distributed delivery of electromagnetic energy [includes] high power microwave to deny, degrade, disrupt and deceive an adversary’s capabilities via high-mobility platforms,” according to the solicitation.
The focus on “deception” includes creating “chaos and confusion in the spectrum [radio frequency as well as] targeting adversary situational awareness, command and control, and decision-making processes to enable friendly force freedom of maneuver,” the solicitation continues. The solicitation describes payload delivery as any capability that contributes “to blinding, seeing, or targeting the adversary by degrading their ability to utilize the electromagnetic spectrum and their ability to share information over tactical edge networks.”
The service recently wrapped up its previous iteration of the event earlier this summer during which more than 300 personnel from across the services participated in 30 technology initiatives, according to an August statement. The exercise is also sponsored by the office of the under secretary for defense for research and engineering.
In addition to the other branches of the Pentagon, the Navy also opened participation up to civilian agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as foreign allies and partners such as Australia and the United Kingdom.
Crane’s announcement seeking unmanned systems armed with electromagnetic spectrum capabilities comes in the wake of Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks announcing her own initiative, dubbed “Replicator,” which aims to mass produce thousands of drones to counter China.
