Jane Edwards
Barbara Supplee, executive vice president of the Navy business group at SAIC, said the U.S. Navy should leverage and deploy emerging technologies by augmenting its fleet with unmanned underwater vehicles and counter-UUV capabilities in order to maintain its asymmetric undersea advantage.
Supplee will be part of a panel discussion on unmanned vehicles at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Navy Summit on Aug. 26. Book your spot now!
In a commentary published Monday on Defense Daily, Supplee wrote that the Navy could gain access to emerging tech, pioneering research and innovators by tapping into an ecosystem that includes industry leaders, startups and academia.
She said SAIC is working with defense startups and other industry partners to accelerate the delivery of UUVs and other mission-critical platforms to the Navy.
Testing a Collaborative UUV Group
In her column, the SAIC executive said the company is testing a collaborative UUV group that can be trained to run as an integrated layer within the service branch’s undersea warfare architecture.
According to Supplee, SAIC is also developing a multimission intelligent system that enables UUV autonomous maneuvers to deliver undersea decoy, surveillance and diversion capabilities.
“Coupled with other systems, this also provides a key real-time counter-UUV solution that is both cost-effective and agile and enhances command and control and Fleet protection,” Supplee noted.
“The autonomous command and control system SAIC is investing in for the Navy is designed to either operate independently as separate force structure or seamlessly operate within the Navy’s existing infrastructure to ensure new technologies enhance – rather than disrupt – Fleet design,” she added.
Advancing Navy’s Undersea Dominance
Supplee called autonomous command and control UUVs “a strategic enabler for the Navy’s undersea dominance” that could provide persistent underwater surveillance, cueing and threat neutralization support for destroyers, submarines, maritime patrol aircraft and other manned platforms.
She noted that such UUVs could also serve as a rapid response system and an early-warning sensor grid.
