Autonomous technology in vehicles on land, in the air or in the sea is growing in complexity and sophistication. While debate surrounding these technologies within the public arena remains fierce, acceptance in areas such as the military is wide spread. This week we look at an Invitation to Register (ITR) interest in the upcoming Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Autonomous Warrior Exercises
Autonomous Warrior (AW) is the RAN’s flagship program to demonstrate, evaluate and trial emerging Robotic, Autonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence (RAS-AI) technologies at a variety of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). This event provides an opportunity to increase mutual understanding between Defence and industry in a realistic environment while fostering collaborative relationships.
The Exercise will see targeted demonstrations and displays, industry briefs and operator/maintainer engagement with RAS-AI manufacturers and designers. Different to previous years, in 2021 AW will begin to transition from a biennial series to four events annually. Each event will have a specific operational focus and utilise different exercise locations to suit the nature of the activity and increase accessibility for industry. The three key capability areas which the Commonwealth will be focusing on are:
a. products and platforms (eg unmanned vehicles, software, etc);
b. integration (eg networking, data integration, etc); and
c. workforce (eg CONOPS, training and education, cognitive loading and management, etc).
Successful respondents will have the opportunity to display their technology through various means including static displays, lecture style presentations, dynamic demonstrations or participation in discussions and or “challenge” events. Suppliers will be chosen based on technical, managerial or financial capacity to meet the requirements. This process also allows those selected adequate time to consider licensing and security requirements if necessary. Note that chosen participants will bare their own costs of participating, and that this is not a procurement activity.
An Industry Briefing will held on the 18th Dec via Microsoft Teams. The closing date for the EOI is 29th January 2021.
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