Gilday takes a cautious and “deliberate” approach to the secret technology deployments of the Navy’s Project Overmatch

[ad_1]

The Navy’s testing of its new – and highly secretive – Project Overmatch capabilities is “in full swing,” but the service’s senior officer is taking what he calls a “deliberate” approach to deploying the technology more broadly across the US. the fleet.

Project Overmatch is the Maritime Service’s contribution to the Pentagon’s broader Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative to better connect the U.S. military’s networks, sensors, and marksmen.

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday said Overmatch’s technology could be “the foundation for the joint tactical network of the future” and allow the military to “take any data and send it over any network in a defined environment by software, where the software decides what to prioritize information on and how data will flow to the endpoint, whether it is a decision maker or a weapon system.

The Maritime Service is currently deploying C2-related capabilities with Carrier Strike Group One (CSG-1) and its flagship, USS Carl Vinson, to evaluate them.

At this week’s Navy League Sea-Air-Space conference, Gilday said testing is “in full swing right now” with the carrier off the California coast, and the service is looking to “scale it up” after the experiment.

DefenseScoop asked Gilday about the next steps for the launch following the conclusion of activities with the carrier.

“I want to wait and see what kind of success we hopefully see with Vinson. And that’s going to inform how fast and how widely we’re going to scale or not. You know, if we still have work to do, then we’ll go back and do that work. Again, with all these decisions, I’ve been very deliberate so that we don’t get too far ahead of our skis and then make big investments and things that we really regret. So I don’t have an answer for you yet, but I hope to talk more about it—hopefully talk more about it after Vinson is done,” she said.

Gilday declined to say which units he’s looking at as potential next candidates to deploy with the capabilities, nor will he discuss timelines for future launches.

“I will not talk publicly about where we go next. We’re learning from each iteration and making informed decisions based on that, based on what we’ve seen. So far with Vinson, we’re on schedule, I’ll say, and on track in terms of the goals we’re looking for and where we want to go,” she said.

Project Overmatch technology isn’t just for US Navy vessels at sea. The Marine Corps, allies and partners are also “bonded now,” Gilday noted. He told DefenseScoop that he “absolutely” would like the Coast Guard to be involved in the future as well.

The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security, but deploys its forces around the world, including in support of the military.

The Navy’s Unmanned Task Force at the Pentagon is also examining how the service can leverage the technology to better integrate drones into the fleet.

“The Unmanned Task Force is working primarily in restricted space, on lethal capabilities, as well as command and control improvements…that go hand-in-hand with Overmatch. I can’t talk about it more specifically than that,” Gilday told reporters at the conference.

[ad_2]