Navy's 4th Fleet to start operation focused on unmanned systems countering illicit trafficking -...

The US Navy’s 4th Fleet will begin a new operation, dubbed Southern Spear, in the coming weeks focused on using robotic and autonomous systems to aid in the detection of illicit trafficking, the service recently announced.

“Southern Spear will operationalize a heterogeneous mix of robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) to support the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking while learning lessons for other theaters,” Cmdr. Foster Edwards, 4th Fleet’s hybrid fleet director, said in a statement last week. “Southern Spear will continue our (4th Fleet’s) move away from short-duration experimentation into long-duration operations that will help develop critical techniques and procedures in integrating RAS into the maritime environment.”
The operation will take place in the Southern Command area of responsibility, which spans the coasts of Central and South America. While Southern Spear’s goals do align with the new administration’s priorities for tighter security at the United States’s southern border, the timing is likely a coincidence because the Navy usually spends months planning these kinds of operations in advance. The operation is an evolution of the Navy’s previous operation dubbed Windward Stack.