THE FUTURE OF SEA POWER

The Future Navy Powered by Science and Technology | 73
is likely to be incremental, particularly in command and control systems. DST Group is
developing an integrated survivability assessment capability model to assess the impact
of new technologies like these, and command and control procedures and processes.
Joint and Combined Maritime Operations
To be fully prepared for a range of operations from constabulary to peacekeeping to
warfighting, navies need to operate successfully as single units, task groups and with
joint and coalition forces. Under Plan PELORUS, by 2018:
Navy will generate and deploy self supported and sustainable maritime task
groups capable of accomplishing the full range of maritime security operations.
These task groups will be self-contained with submarine, afloat support,
aviation, mine counter measure and/or rapid environmental assessment
capabilities as required by the mission.
Measuring and understanding these capabilities, identifying capability gaps and
generating innovative concepts, doctrine and procedures will be essential to fully exploit
their combat potential. New technologies will improve effectiveness and resilience.
Networking increases efficiency in surveillance operations and in warfighting missions.
Unmanned and off-board systems provide new opportunities and methods of achieving
effects.
To support, understand and exploit this type of change, increased operations research
and analysis support will be required. Modelling and simulation, war gaming,
exercise analysis and operations analysis will be essential to measure warfighting
effectiveness and to generate new tactics, techniques, procedures and command and
control concepts. Capability decision-making will be supported by experimentation,
systems analysis, advanced mathematical modelling and data analysis. The strategic
application of long endurance unmanned and autonomous systems will be required to
support force level operations. New technologies such as cube satellites, high bandwidth
laser communications, and advanced electronic warfare all show promise in enhancing
networking across the force. New sensor systems and systems for surveillance, data
collection, analysis and fusion will be required to maintain a warfighting advantage.
Power and Energy
Power and energy are key enablers for all maritime platforms. The available power
and energy technologies have a direct impact on speed, endurance (for submarines),
signatures, weight, stability and use of advanced directed energy weapons and phased
array radars. The reliability of power systems can impact on platform availability, and
maintenance requirements have a clear effect on through-life costs. Many technology
challenges are limited by power and energy technologies. For example, autonomous
underwater systems are severely limited in range and persistence due to energy
constraints, particularly important to Australia given the size of its maritime zones.
Required technology solutions include increased power density systems, lower cost,