Compiled using sophisticated artificial intelligence and machine-learning systems — combined with advanced detection and tracking software — the images, along with other sensor systems, enabled U.S. military and law enforcement to deploy maritime assets to stop the drug runners from delivering their illegal goods.
The scenario was part of a larger July 2023 experimentation event designed to emulate drug-smuggling activities in the maritime domain as well as efforts to deter the flow of such contraband. Called the SCOUT Main Experimentation Event, the two-week exercise involved partners such as the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Joint Inter-Agency Task Force-South (JIATF-S), U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), and numerous naval warfare centers and industry and academic partners.
Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus, who was one of several ONR leaders at the maritime operations center, said, “I’m truly impressed by the innovation, teaming and analytic rigor you’ve all brought to this exercise. Your pioneering approach is leading the way for us to learn faster with new partners to tackle the hardest operational challenges.”
ONR SCOUT is an ongoing, multiagency campaign to identify new ways to collaborate with industry and academia to bring novel capabilities to warfighter challenges, experiment with them in realistic operating conditions and operationalize them in partnership with the fleet and force.
Since being established 18 months ago, SCOUT has worked with JIATF-S, SOUTHCOM and partner naval forces to leverage all-domain technologies and unmanned capabilities to detect, track and target illicit drug trafficking in the maritime environments. This facilitates interdiction and apprehension to reduce the flow of drugs into the U.S. and partner nations, and helps degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.
The July 2023 Main Experimentation Event built on lessons learned from previous SCOUT sprint exercises (scenario-based demonstrations of technology capabilities and characteristics), warfighter-driven challenges and design-thinking workshops. It also incorporated aspects of the four primary problem areas outlined by SCOUT since its inception, including:
- Deploying algorithms that enable operators to manage and exploit overwhelming amounts of diverse data, for improving accuracy in assessing threats.
- Improving capabilities to detect and monitor suspect vehicles, across wider areas and over longer detection intervals.
- Integrating promising new software into the JIATF-S operations center, in order to use air and maritime assets more effectively in counter-narcotics operations.
- Delivering JIATF-S capabilities that can enhance operations, mobility and tactical flexibility, in a cost-effective manner.
Last month’s large-scale event involved two dozen participants from organizations within the Department of Defense, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and industry and academic partners. The coverage area stretched from the Bahamas to the mid-Atlantic Ocean region along the U.S. East Coast. The total coverage area exceeded 100,000 square miles — larger than the five Great Lakes combined in terms of surface area.
“The goal was to integrate different types of prototype technologies together, from all-domain sensor systems to artificial intelligence, and see how their performance was affected in an operationally relevant environment using realistic smuggling behaviors,” said Shane Stein, the ONR program officer overseeing the event. “This enabled us to stress-test various systems and strategies under real-world conditions to see if they could solve identified naval problems, and potentially be applied across the fleet and force in the future.”
Participants deployed diverse manned and unmanned technologies, including prototypes still in development. These included crewed maritime patrol aircrafts, crewed ships, unmanned underwater vehicles and small boats, sensor buoy systems and commercial satellites. Many of the assets were controlled remotely from locations in Virginia, Maryland, California and Florida.
The participants were divided into two teams: Blue (representing U.S. military and law enforcement) and Red (representing a drug cartel). They engaged in numerous unscripted “cat-and-mouse” encounters during the event that replicated narcotics smuggling and counter-illicit trafficking operations.
Now that the event is over, SCOUT and its partners are reviewing the accumulated data to see how it could be used to strengthen the mission capabilities of JIATF-S and SOUTHCOM.
Warren Duffie Jr. is a contractor for ONR Corporate Strategic Communications.
