AI used to improve naval operations including amphibious landings

 Business Insider:

As artificial intelligence becomes more capable and more widely used, militaries are trying to harness it to increase their effectiveness. Recent exercises and announcements show how the US and its allies are turning to AI for help with some of the most complex naval operations in their playbook.

Over five days in October, the British military and industry partners conducted amphibious landings using some 130 personnel, 13 vessels, crewed and uncrewed aircraft, and 50 cameras and sensors to record their activity and gather data for AI products.

Conducted in challenging conditions, including wind up to 40 knots, the drills "saw personnel boarding and leaving vehicles in different ways to generate data representative of different behavioural traits," the British Ministry of Defence said in a release.

"Data captured during the exercise included visual, infrared, sonar and radar as well as supporting 'metadata' including platform and sensor locations, weather, sea states and other contextual information," the release said. The data will be used to build more datasets to train AI algorithms to recognize objects, like boats and the people on them, and analyze their behavior.

Even in ideal conditions, landing large numbers of troops and vehicles on shore is not easy, and it doesn't get any easier when under fire. By gathering data about human behavior and the natural environment during such operations, British officials are looking to develop more efficient ways to conduct and defend against amphibious landings and other maritime activity.

"Innovative, data driven exercises like this demonstrate how AI can enhance our military capabilities, enabling us to respond more efficiently to the threats of today and tomorrow," James Cartlidge, the minister for defence procurement, said after the exercise.
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Farther from shore, the British navy and its US and Australian counterparts are looking to AI to help with one of their most tricky and time-consuming operations: hunting enemy submarines.

Amid increasing competition with capable adversaries, like the Chinese military and its growing undersea force, gaining even a small edge is key to deterring and, if need be, winning a war.
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Anti-submarine warfare is an extremely difficult and laborious mission. Vigilance is key to catching an enemy submarine hundreds of feet under the surface, where it can use currents, water temperature, and the seabed to disguise its presence.
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The most uncomfortable part of an amphibious operation for me was the ride from the ship to the landing area.  Even getting on the amphibious craft from the ship was a challenge for many using a rope ladder in swelling seas.  I never had to do one of those landings in 40 knots of wind which would make them even more difficult.