Year
2021-2024
Operation Area
Caribbean Sea
Purpose
The US Navy expanded its unmanned systems testbed to US 4th Fleet to counter drug and human trafficking and China’s illegal fishing in South and Central America.
Much like Task Force 59 in US Fifth Fleet, Operation Windward Stack was meant to integrate manned and unmanned systems and collaborate with regional partners. Unlike Task Force 59, Navy leadership wanted to incorporate select unmanned systems into routine activities, including countering drug trafficking and illegal fishing in 4th Fleet, rather than establish a task force dedicated to experimentation with new technologies.
Operation Windward Stack was designed as a long-term operation of unmanned and manned forces working together. Operators and watchstanders in 4th Fleet used the data collected by a fleet of Saildrone Voyagers to increase their maritime domain awareness in support of routine missions.
Navy operators also learned the best combinations of manned and unmanned platforms to conduct different missions, optimized watch floors to best leverage the vast data provided by Saildrone, overcame challenges associated with having USVs at sea for six to nine months at a time, and worked through command and control of this hybrid fleet in an operationally relevant but permissive environment.
Results
Fourth Fleet’s months-long use of Saildrone Voyager USVs helped map patterns of behavior and common trafficking routes in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The presence of the Saildrone fleet served as a deterrent to illegal activity, specifically resulting in fewer migrant departures, improving safety of life at sea (SOLAS).
Over the course of the mission, the 10 Voyager USVs sailed more than 130,000 nautical miles over 2,700 cumulative mission days. They detected 116,000 unique contacts, an average of 43 contacts per USV per day. Of the total contacts, 98,000 were not broadcasting AIS. Saildrone covered an area of 12,500 sq nm at a cost of $4.25 per nm per day, as calculated by the Center for Naval Analysis.
