A defense official confirmed that Franchetti has been relieved of her duties.

Franchetti became chief of naval operations and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in November 2023 after she was nominated for the job by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate.

Franchetti’s firing was not totally unexpected. Her name was reportedly on a circulated list of officers that the Trump administration was considering sacking for being associated with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives or for other reasons.

She was among a handful of top military officers Trump let go Friday.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he will replace Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown with retired Lt. Gen. Dan Caine and that he’d directed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “solicit nominations” for additional high-level positions at the Pentagon.

In a subsequent statement, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he’s “requesting nominations for the positions of Chief of Naval Operations and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. The incumbents in these important roles, Admiral Lisa Franchetti and General James Slife, respectively, have had distinguished careers. We thank them for their service and dedication to our country.”

He added that the administration is also requesting nominations for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Members of the Joint Chief of Staff generally serve four-year terms, and it’s rare for them to be replaced mid-tenure.

“Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars,” Hegseth said.

As CNO, Franchetti was a driving force behind key modernization initiatives, including Project 33, which was part of her CNO Navigation Plan that was released in September. That effort called for accelerating the acquisition and fielding of unmanned systems, AI and “information dominance” capabilities, to deter or defeat a Chinese attack on Taiwan or other U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific.

Franchetti also created a new “robotics warfare specialist” general rating.

“RW Sailors will enable Robotic and Autonomous System (RAS) operations and maintenance at the tactical edge. RWs will be the subject matter experts for computer vision, mission autonomy, navigation autonomy, data systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning on our RAS platforms,” she wrote last year in a NAVADMIN announcement.

Prior to becoming CNO, her previous flag assignments included: vice chief of naval operations; director for strategy, plans and policy, J5, Joint Staff; deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, N7; commander, U.S. 6th Fleet; commander, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO; deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa; chief of staff for strategy, plans and policy, J5, Joint Staff; commander, Carrier Strike Group 15; commander, Carrier Strike Group 9; and commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea, according to her Navy bio.

She also commanded Destroyer Squadron 21 and the USS Ross (DDG 71), among other assignments at sea and ashore.

Adm. James Kilby, vice chief of naval operations, is in line to perform the duties of CNO until a permanent replacement for Franchetti is nominated and confirmed.

In an interview with NBC News last year, Franchetti was asked to comment about being the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and CNO.

“I don’t give a lot of time to thinking about … being the first. But what I do think about is that this is the last time that anyone will have to be the first [woman] to be on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So, you know, I hope that other folks will continue to be inspired by the opportunities I’ve had and continue to do all the things that they want to do in their lives … I’ve always thought if you can see it, you can be it,” she said.

Franchetti did not provide a statement prior to publication.

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Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron 7 is slated to be established in May in San Diego, California, according to service officials.

The organization will be “primarily tasked with operating and maintaining” a variety of small USVs, a Navy official told DefenseScoop.

That includes Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft and “future RAS systems,” the official said.

Maritime Applied Physics Corp. manufactures the 16-foot GARC. The Defense Department has already obligated more than $160 million for the robotic boats, according to government contracting data.

The Navy is looking to ramp up GARC production to 32 vessels per month later this year, Rear Adm. Kevin Smith, the Navy’s program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, told DefenseScoop at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium earlier this month.

The establishment of USVRON 7 this spring will come about a year after the sea service stood up USVRON 3 — tasked with overseeing a fleet of GARCs and helping the sea service integrate, scale, experiment and employ those types of platforms — at Naval Base San Diego and three years after the creation of a unit now known as USVRON 1, which is based in Ventura County, California.

The launch of USVRON 7 is on the horizon as Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti is looking for ways to quickly augment the force with uncrewed systems, autonomous capabilities and personnel who specialize in those technologies.

Last year, she issued a NAVADMIN announcement about the creation of a new robotics warfare specialist rating.

“RW Sailors will enable Robotic and Autonomous System (RAS) operations and maintenance at the tactical edge. RWs will be the subject matter experts for computer vision, mission autonomy, navigation autonomy, data systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning on our RAS platforms,” she wrote.

She later launched an initiative known as Project 33 with an aim of scaling those types of systems across the force in the near term so that the sea service will be ready for a potential war against China in the Taiwan Strait or other locations.

“The Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has told his forces to be ready for war by 2027 — we will be more ready,” Franchetti wrote in her CNO Navigation Plan. “Project 33 is how we will get more ready players on the field by 2027. Project 33 sets my targets for pushing hard to make strategically meaningful gains in the fastest possible time with the resources we influence.”

Officials envision small USVs performing important missions for U.S. Pacific Fleet. These types of platforms fit in with the “Hellscape” warfighting concept that Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, has laid out for a potential conflict with China in the Taiwan Strait.

“Certainly, these systems are ideal in enclosed spaces … if you can deploy it,” Paparo said at a Brookings Institution event in November. “For closed spaces, for executing sea denial, this can be a very key capability.”

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The latest Digital Talon exercise, conducted earlier this month in the Middle East region, included a variety of robotic capabilities that could play a significant role in future conflicts.

“Digital Talon 3.0 … tested the electronic and mechanical effectiveness of robotics and autonomous systems (RAS), the capabilities of over-the-horizon communications between unmanned systems, and testing aerial autonomous launch and recovery of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) off a unmanned surface vessel (USV),” NAVCENT stated in a press release Sunday.

The exercise involved Task Group 59.1, which was established earlier this year and reports to Task Force 59 — a key unit based in the Middle East under 5th Fleet that’s helping the Navy operationalize AI and uncrewed platforms for real-world missions.

“Under Digital Talon 3.0 we were able to test the remote launch of a loitering munition, and vertical take-off and landing of UAVs from a USV,” Lt. Luis Echeverria, commanding officer of the new task group, said in a statement, adding that these “evolutions resulted in the successful remote launch of a loitering munition at sea.”

This wasn’t the first time that a robo-ship operated by the Navy launched a kamikaze drone.

During a Digital Talon exercise last year, the unit successfully attacked a target boat with a “Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile System” fired from a MARTAC T-38 Devil Ray USV, according to officials.

However, the latest iteration of the exercise expanded the over-the-horizon capabilities of these types of uncrewed systems, according to Echeverria.

These efforts are unfolding as the Navy steams ahead with new initiatives to incorporate more unmanned and autonomous technologies into the force.

The sea service established a new “robotics warfare specialist” general rating earlier this year.

“RW Sailors will enable Robotic and Autonomous System (RAS) operations and maintenance at the tactical edge. RWs will be the subject matter experts for computer vision, mission autonomy, navigation autonomy, data systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning on our RAS platforms,” according to a NAVADMIN announcement from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti released in February.

In September, Franchetti unveiled “Project 33,” which is part of her “CNO Navigation Plan” and places a heavy emphasis on robotic systems and information dominance as the service prepares for a potential conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific.

“The Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has told his forces to be ready for war by 2027 — we will be more ready,” Franchetti wrote, acknowledging that the Defense Department “cannot manifest a bigger traditional Navy in a few short years.”

Incorporating more robo-ships and other uncrewed platforms into the fleet is seen as a solution to that problem.

“Project 33 is how we will get more ready players on the field by 2027,” she added, stating that the sea service will by then have integrated proven robotic and autonomous systems for routine use by the commanders who will employ them.

Senior Navy officials envision these types of systems as being useful for sea-denial missions.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said unmanned platforms like those that are part of the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative offer significant benefits. They fit in with the “Hellscape” warfighting concept that he’s laid out for a potential conflict with China in the Taiwan Strait.

“Certainly, these systems are ideal in enclosed spaces … if you can deploy it,” he said last week at a Brookings Institution event. “For closed spaces, for executing sea denial, this can be a very key capability.”

Technologies that the Pentagon is trying to accelerate under Replicator include loitering munitions and other types of drones, USVs and unmanned underwater vehicles, among other tools.

Last week, the Defense Innovation Unit, which is playing a key role in the initiative, unveiled the recent winners of Replicator software contracts.

Meanwhile, Task Force 59 and Task Group 59.1 aren’t the only Navy units experimenting with new unmanned systems.

Earlier this year, the service stood up Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron Three (USVRON Three) in San Diego to oversee a “fleet” of small uncrewed surface vessels, including the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC). The organization is expected to help build the foundational knowledge required to operate and maintain small USVs and develop tactics, techniques and procedures for operations and sustainment, according to officials.

Using uncrewed surface vessels to launch loitering munitions and other types of UAVs could be a new tactic that the Navy introduces for warfighting in the coming years.

The first two Digital Talon exercises, held about a year ago, “advanced lethality and kinetic applications for unmanned systems,” but version 3.0 “examined more advanced tactics,” according to the NAVCENT news release, which attributed the observation to Royal Navy Lt. Samuel Hendy, executive officer of Task Group 59.1.

“As with all pioneering ventures and first-of-its-kind feats, there are plenty of challenges to overcome, lessons to be analyzed, but we are a learning organization and it all combines to further benefit 5th Fleets’ understanding and employment of this state-of-the-art warfare,” Hendy said in a statement. “If there is one thing we can take away, Digital Talon 3.0 affirms that the U.S. Navy, as well as her partner nations, remains at the forefront of cutting-edge unmanned system integration and deployment.”

The loitering munition fired during the exercise was a Switchblade 600, a NAVCENT spokesperson told DefenseScoop. That platform, built by AeroVironment, is also one of the systems selected for accelerated acquisition by the U.S. military via Replicator.

The drone is designed to carry high-precision optics and an anti-armor warhead. It has upwards of 40 minutes of loitering endurance, a range of 40-plus kilometers, and a “sprint speed” of 185 kilometers per hour, according to a product description from the vendor. The all-up round weighs 65 pounds.

“Equipped with class-leading, high-resolution EO/IR gimbaled sensors and advanced precision flight control, Switchblade 600 empowers the warfighter with quick and easy deployment via tube-launch, and the capability to fly, track and engage non-line-of-sight targets and armored vehicles with precision lethal effects without the need for external ISR or fires assets,” according to a company product description, which noted that the system’s “wave-off and recommit capability allows operators to abort the mission at any time and then re-engage either the same or other targets multiple times based on operator command.”

With regard to the USV and other drones that were involved in the latest Digital Talon exercise, the NAVCENT spokesperson said: “Specific effects and capabilities relevant to Digital Talon 3.0 were provided via GSA contracts for contractor-owned, contractor-operated platforms.”

The commander of Special Operations Forces Central Command, Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship USS Devastator, U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel-class fast response cutter USCGC Emlen Tunnell and industry partners also participated in the event, according to NAVCENT.

Updated on Nov. 26, 2024, at 3:30 PM: This story has been updated to include additional information provided to DefenseScoop by a NAVCENT spokesperson regarding the loitering munition and other capabilities that were involved in Digital Talon 3.0.

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Over the last year, Navy assets in the region have come under fire from a barrage of systems launched by the Houthis — a group backed by Iran that has controlled portions of Yemen, including the capital, since 2014 — to include one-way drones and missiles. Navy ships have used a variety of expensive missiles to shoot down these assets, leading many outside experts to ask if the sea service and the Department of Defense are on the wrong side of the cost curve, shooting down inexpensive projectiles with million-dollar ammunition.

“The other lesson learned … is really using what you have differently. Using Hellfire against unmanned surface vehicles, air-to-air, aviation platform shooting down UAVs,” Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations, told reporters during a roundtable Wednesday hosted by the Defense Writers Group. “These are things where we’re really learning. I think that Ukraine has shown us that you can innovate on the battlefield. I want to innovate before the battlefield, so we can stay ahead of any adversary any time.”

Navy aircraft had previously been used to shoot down several missiles and drones fired by the Houthis.

Franchetti noted that there isn’t a price tag for the lives of the sailors being targeted by the Houthis, a refrain echoed by top officials alluding to the fact they will use whatever capabilities at their disposal — regardless of how expensive — to protect personnel.

“I’m very proud of them, speaking with them directly. They have been in a weapons engagement zone and working at a level of intensity really never seen in my lifetime and really since World War II. I am very grateful for the weapons systems we have and for their ability to deploy them,” she said. “We’ve learned [that] conventional platforms [are] defeating unmanned platforms. We see that again every day that our ships are there and that our weapon systems and our training process that we’ve invested in over the last 10 to 15 years has really paid off. Our weapons are working as designed, our people know how to use them as designed and I think that confidence is really important as they integrate our capabilities along with the capabilities of the Air Force with allies and partners there.”

Though she declined to offer specific lessons and applications for assets currently deployed to avoid touching on ongoing operations, Franchetti acknowledged that the joint services along with allies and partners will all continue to contribute capabilities to thwart these types of threats in the future.

“You learn a couple things from that [engagement]. One is the power of allies and partners being able to work together. Like-minded nations to stand up again for that rules-based international order … it just reiterates the value of allies and partners, which our adversaries simply don’t have,” she said. “It’s clear that unmanned platforms are part of that changing character of war … you also need to be able to defeat them. This is a strong area of focus for our secretary of defense. He’s really put a lot of emphasis on counter-UAS and using creative solutions to get after that. We’re focused on that too. I think there’s some – all five services, are working on that, so there’ll be some integrated capabilities that we’re able to come up with.”

One of the biggest lessons Franchetti touted was the ability to take data from weapon systems to learn and improve tactics. Engineers can work with industry to devise fixes against these capabilities the Houthis are employing — which includes the best Iranian technology the Islamic Republic is supplying — in an ongoing cat-and-mouse game.

“We’re continuing to learn,” Franchetti said. “We know that this change in the character of war is that we are going to have to be able to defeat those types of technologies, whether it’s kinetically or non-kinetically or … farther left of launch and look forward to working on that.”

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The forthcoming push is part of her “CNO Navigation Plan,” which acknowledges that officials “cannot manifest a bigger traditional Navy in a few short years.”

“The Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has told his forces to be ready for war by 2027 — we will be more ready,” Franchetti wrote. “Project 33 is how we will get more ready players on the field by 2027. Project 33 sets my targets for pushing hard to make strategically meaningful gains in the fastest possible time with the resources we influence.”

Accelerating the integration of robotic platforms and autonomous systems is one of the seven “targets” for that initiative.

Unmanned capabilities not only keep sailors out of harm’s way, but they provide opportunities to greatly expand the sea service’s warfighting capacity at less cost than traditional Navy vessels.

Officials have been laying the keel for a future hybrid fleet via experimentation and other efforts, such as standing up Task Force 59, establishing the Disruptive Capabilities Office, and regularizing the integration of unmanned platforms into numbered fleets via 4th Fleet. Earlier this year, Franchetti announced the creation of a new rating for robotics warfare specialists among enlisted personnel, and the service also stood up a new robo-ship squadron aimed at helping the service integrate small maritime drones into its forces.

Additionally, the Pentagon’s Replicator effort is aiming to accelerate the fielding of uncrewed surface vessels and unmanned underwater vehicles for the Navy.

Franchetti is looking to get many more robotic systems into the water in the next three years in operational settings, noting in her navigation plan that officials also recognize the value that can be derived from employing commercial robotic and autonomous systems in sea-denial missions.

“Based on extensive learning from fleet experimentation and real-world developments in the Black and Red Seas, we have an opportunity to expand, extend, and bolster the reach, resilience, and lethality of our conventionally manned fleet through new disruptive and emerging technologies. As the Navy works on delivering a truly hybrid fleet to capitalize on that opportunity, nearer term operational challenges demand that we integrate proven robotic and autonomous capabilities as soon as possible. We must do so with a focus on how we will use these systems in war,” she wrote.

“By 2027, we will integrate proven robotic and autonomous systems for routine use by the commanders who will employ them. We will integrate mature capabilities into all deploying Carrier and Expeditionary Strike Group certifications to refine our approach to command and control of manned-unmanned teams at sea. Our next phase in this innovation cycle will prioritize key operational problems across critical mission areas such as surveillance, fires, networking, logistics, and deception,” she added.

The CNO noted that officials are also working now on concept and requirements analysis for larger robotic systems, as well as AI applications and other software that help commanders better understand complex, “information-centric” battlespaces.

The quest for “information dominance,” including through the creation of new command centers, is another key element of Project 33 as Franchetti looks to boost the service’s capabilities to collect, analyze and distribute important data and information across the fleet.

That will be especially critical as the Navy refines its tactics for distributed maritime operations and creates a new Navy Warfighting Concept that’s in line with the U.S. military’s Joint Warfighting Concept and Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), which aims to better link systems and data streams across the services and key allies and partners for more effective and efficient ops.

“We will expand the Navy’s contribution to the Joint warfighting ecosystem. Because of this ecosystem, our carrier air wings can strike targets thanks to cyber and space effects delivered by Air Force and Space Force capabilities. Our destroyers can shoot missiles against ships detected and tracked by Marine Corps, Army, Special Operations Forces, or Allied sensors. In this ecosystem, Information Warfare delivers effects on par with those of aircraft, ships, and submarines,” Franchetti wrote.

Information dominance is seen as a key enabler of the next generation of maneuver warfare. Officials involved in the secretive effort known as Project Overmatch, which is part of the sea service’s contribution to CJADC2, have been pushing to enhance these types of capabilities.

Franchetti’s navigation plan highlighted the importance of a maritime operations center for fleet-level C2 and distributed maritime operations.

“MOCs and the processes they execute, whether in one location or disaggregated, are how fleets convert data into information to deliver decision advantage for the commander. MOCs must be capable of integrating with the Joint Force, Allies, and partners to link our fleet commanders to the range of sensors, shooters, and effectors distributed across the battlespace. To integrate a maneuvering, distributed, information-centric fight requires that we treat MOCs as the weapons systems they are,” she wrote.

“By 2027, all fleet headquarters, starting in the Pacific Fleet, will have ready MOCs certified and proficient in command and control, information, intelligence, fires, movement and maneuver, protection, and sustainment functions as assessed by our MOC Training Teams,” she added.

Franchetti has tapped the deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities (OPNAV N9) to be the “single accountable official” for accelerating the push to operationally integrate robotic and autonomous systems into the fleet.

The deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare (OPNAV N2N6) has been selected as the official accountable for enhancing the service’s ability to fight via maritime operations centers.

Meanwhile, the other “targets” for Project 33 include eliminating ship, submarine and aircraft maintenance delays; recruiting and retaining the force the Navy needs; delivering a high “quality of service” for sailors; training for combat including through high-tech live, virtual and constructive (LVC) training; and restoring critical infrastructure.

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The next iteration of RIMPAC, a biennial event which has historically been the world’s largest international maritime exercise, is slated to take place this summer near Hawaii. The most recent version, which was held in 2022, involved 26 nations, 38 surface ships, three submarines, nine national land forces, more than 30 unmanned systems, approximately 170 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel, according to the service.

A total of 29 nations were scheduled to participate in RIMPAC 2024.

“The investments that we’ve made in operation Overmatch … will be exercised during RIMPAC ’24, basically. We’ve also increased our collaboration with allies and partners for RIMPAC ’24, which is very exciting. And on the autonomous side of the house, the unmanned Navy side of the house, we’re actually looking to actually employ all four Overlord projects as well, too, in an incredible way. So we’re very excited about RIMPAC,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told lawmakers Thursday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Project Overmatch is the sea service’s contribution to the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) initiative, which is intended to better connect sensors, platforms and data flows from the U.S. military and key allies and partners under a more unified network for better and faster decision-making.

Experimentation with Overmatch tech began last year with Carrier Strike Group 1 and its flagship, the USS Carl Vinson, in the Pacific. Since then, it has been rolled out to additional units, including Carrier Strike Group 4 and Carrier Strike Group 15, and the aim is to continue scaling it across the force.

The Navy has already invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the project.

Officials have said the sea service is making significant progress, including using the capabilities to deliver over-the-air software updates to ships.

The department has requested an additional $139.8 million for the effort in fiscal 2025 and $716.7 million across the five-year spending plan that’s part of the future years defense program (FYDP).

“In order to ensure warfighting advantage, we must guarantee decision superiority for our warfighters,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said in her written testimony for Thursday’s SASC hearing. “Through Project Overmatch — the Navy’s contribution to Combined Joint All Domain Command & Control — we are fielding the connective tissue for today’s Fleet, while developing and experimenting with what is needed for our hybrid fleet” of crewed and uncrewed systems.

“Using modern software methods and pipelines, we are fielding software-based networking technologies to provide as many pathways to connect and share information as possible, as well as software applications that aid decision makers and planners in executing [distributed maritime operations]. To date we have fielded our first increments of Project Overmatch across multiple Carrier Strike Groups and shore command nodes. The FY25 budget request will fund our follow-on increments of this capability, while growing the architecture, adding resilience and redundancy to our communications paths, and expanding into additional domains in conjunction with our Joint partners and Allies,” she wrote.

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The initiative is the Navy’s contribution to the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) effort to better connect the U.S. military’s sensors, shooters, platforms and personnel across the services and with key allies. Service leaders have described it as the bedrock for the joint tactical network of the future.

“Through Project Overmatch, we’re building a software-defined network solution and modern software pipelines to provide as many pathways as is possible to connect and share information. This initiative is an effort to transmit any data over any network and is the connective tissue between today’s fleet and tomorrow’s emerging hybrid fleet” of manned and unmanned systems, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said last month at the WEST conference.

The Navy spent $226 million on Overmatch in fiscal 2023 and it requested $192 million for it in 2024. At press time, Congress hasn’t passed a full-year defense appropriation for fiscal 2024 and the Pentagon has been operating under a continuing resolution since October.

The sea services aim to keep the money flowing to Overmatch in fiscal 2025 and beyond.

“I just had a great discussion with [Rear Adm.] Doug Small and his team … that run that,” Rear Adm. Ben Reynolds, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, told DefenseScoop during a meeting with reporters to preview the 2025 budget request. “This [funding] is for software development for capabilities and some hardware that goes on our ships. It goes into our numbered fleets and then provides them the capability to operate distributed. Also ties in with our Marines in the littorals, and then … allows these fleets to tie into the joint force.”

Small, the commander of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, noted at the WEST conference that the service has been making significant progress with Overmatch, including using it to deliver over-the-air software updates to ships.

“We did demos years ago where we were able to show them certainly it’s possible. But in terms of doing it as a matter of course, that’s come in the last probably a year-and-a-half or so,” he said. “We made tremendous headway. The ability to deliver updates, software over the air — you can imagine the amount of change that had to go on from the entire value chain and how you deliver capability. There’s been a lot of really good work on that. Still more to go.”

Carrier Strike Group 1 and its flagship, the USS Carl Vinson, were equipped with Overmatch capabilities last year in the Pacific to serve as a test bed. The tech is being rolled out to Carrier Strike Group 4 and Carrier Strike Group 15, and the aim is to continue scaling it across the Navy.

Mark Pomerleau contributed reporting from WEST.

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Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti hinted at such a move last week at the WEST conference in San Diego.

“We’re exploring the establishment of a new rating, a robotics rating to build and develop a team for the next generation — a team who has the reps and sets in sensors, platform autonomy and mission autonomy programs, and who can provide input and machine learning feedback processes,” she said.

The CNO and other Navy leaders are pursuing a so-called “hybrid fleet” of crewed and uncrewed systems enabled by AI capabilities and other supporting technologies. The sea service is pursuing a variety of new drones and has been experimenting with unmanned aerial vehicles, surface vessels and undersea vehicles in multiple theaters.

“RW Sailors will enable Robotic and Autonomous System (RAS) operations and maintenance at the tactical edge. RWs will be the subject matter experts for computer vision, mission autonomy, navigation autonomy, data systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning on our RAS platforms,” according to the NAVADMIN announcement from Franchetti.

The new rating will initially be limited to a “small and highly selective” group of active-duty sailors, with the primary source ratings for robotic warfare conversions coming from personnel currently or previously assigned to billets in unmanned vehicle divisions and sailors who have earned applicable Navy Enlisted Classification codes.

“E-4 through E-9 Active Duty Sailors meeting those criteria may submit an Electronic Personnel Action Request (NAVPERS 1306/7) to the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Enlisted Community Management Division (BUPERS-32),” per the announcement.

Applicable NEC codes, conversion package requirements and procedures can be found on the MyNavy HR robotics community website.

Mark Pomerleau contributed to this report.

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While there have been experiments and technologies that the Navy has been using for years to demonstrate these types of updates, frequent deliveries only came about fairly recently.

“We did demos years ago where we were able to show them certainly it’s possible. But in terms of doing it as a matter of course, that’s come in the last probably a year-and-a-half or so,” Rear Adm. Douglas Small, commander of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, said Wednesday at the annual WEST conference, adding that ships can be in port or be connected via a satellite link to receive updates.

“We made tremendous headway. The ability to deliver updates, software over the air — you can imagine the amount of change that had to go on from the entire value chain and how you deliver capability. There’s been a lot of really good work on that. Still more to go,” he said.

Small leads the Navy’s tight-lipped Project Overmatch effort, which seeks to connect the fleet and enable forces to operate in a distributed manner. That endeavor falls in line with the Pentagon’s number one priority to connect networks, data, platforms, sensors and shooters across the joint forces in order to make faster and more informed decisions than adversaries. The concept is known as Joint All-Domian Command and Control (JADC2).

Project Overmatch is a key initiative for Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who sees it as an opportunity to gain advantages and think differently about how to integrate disruptive and emerging technologies to adapt to changes in warfare.

“Through Project Overmatch, we’re building a software-defined network solution and modern software pipelines to provide as many pathways as is possible to connect and share information. This initiative is an effort to transmit any data over any network and is the connective tissue between today’s fleet and tomorrow’s emerging hybrid fleet,” she said Tuesday at the conference. “In using that connectivity, we’re working to evolve Aegis and the ship self-defense system into a single, hardware-agnostic software suite, like the integrated combat system, that all ships can pull from to conduct missions alone or in a group. This system will enable a surface action group, a strike group and a fleet, or any combination of integrated combat system-equipped ships to operate as a single, seamless system and become a true system of systems.”

Carrier Strike Group 1 and its flagship, the USS Carl Vinson, was one of the first to begin receiving Overmatch capabilities last year, serving as a test bed to experiment with accelerating the scaling of these technologies.

Since then, the Navy has equipped additional strike groups with Overmatch capabilities.

“We did a lot of testing on fielding of systems on Vinson. Vinson is deployed with our capabilities. We certainly have moved on and fielded out additional strike groups. It’s never something that we’re done with. It’s a constant learning and a constant improving process,” Small said. “What’s neat about the way we’re delivering our tools, software and things is that we can take in direct feedback and make the updates in stride with the fleet. Not only have we fielded, we’ve updated and re-fielded and delivered — over the air — capabilities based on what it is that the sailors need. It’s a constant learning, growing, getting better, updating our own systems, updating our own pipelines for how we field, how we do cybersecurity.”

To support the effort, the Navy’s information warfare entity is seeking to bolster its training to match the tempo and intensity of updates.

“We’re working across all the other type commanders, we’re working across all the other warfighting development centers, [Carrier Strike Group 4 and Carrier Strike Group 15] to really integrate Overmatch into the [Optimized Fleet Response Plan] on the fleet side,” Elizabeth Nashold, deputy commander of Naval Information Forces, said at the conference. “We have had to think about training differently, like when we’re delivering capabilities quickly to the fleet, our standard processes don’t work as well. We’re doing a lot of learning through that journey.”

Nashold later told reporters that officials need to speed the cycle of getting capability to the fleet and training sailors on it. Moving from inception to delivery takes a long time as the process must go through several steps such a requirements approval, acquisition and training.

“With Overmatch we’re looking at a speed to capability delivery to the fleet. If you’re talking about capability to the fleet faster, then the training has to be faster, too,” she said. “That’s why with training, that’s why we are asking for — it’s very important for us to have a point of presence training. Where can we have training delivered to where the sailors are? Where can we have virtual training environments? Where can we have the representative representation of the equipment [that] may be in the cloud for operators to use and become proficient on? That’s where we need to go is making that cycle faster.”

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“We will put more players on the field, which means ready players,” Franchetti said Tuesday during her keynote speech at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium. “Platforms that are ready with the right capabilities, weapons and sustainment, and people who are ready with the right skills, tools, training and mindset.”

Along with timely ship deliveries and improvements to maintenance practices, Franchetti said the Navy must take full advantage of unmanned systems and disruptive tech in order to ready the service for potential conflicts.

The goal isn’t to reach a specific number of manned or unmanned vessels, but rather ensuring all of the Navy’s assets are effectively contributing to an overall “warfighting ecosystem,” she told reporters after her keynote.

Like other components across the U.S. military, the Navy has made significant investments towards testing robotic platforms and incorporating them into operations. One of the most forward-leaning efforts for the sea service is Task Force 59, formed in 2021 under 5th fleet in the Middle East to help integrate unmanned systems and artificial intelligence tools that would strengthen maritime domain awareness and enhance deterrence. 

Task Force 59 reached full operational capability in early 2023, and the Navy has been experimenting more with drones and supporting technologies in the Indo-Pacific and Central and South American seas, Franchetti said.

“Now, we really need to look at what is all of our unmanned technology that we’re experimenting with?” she told DefenseScoop. “What are the concepts that we’re going to use to employ all these unmanned [systems]? How are we going to train people to work with them? How are we going to knit them together so they can augment our conventional platforms and really expand our force and the ability that we have to do things?”

The CNO also highlighted work underway at the service’s new Disruptive Capabilities Office, launched by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro in September. The organization aims to rapidly deliver new advanced warfighting capabilities to sailors and Marines.

“I’m really excited about seeing what they come up with and how they really quickly scale good emerging technology and put that into the hands of warfighters in just a couple of years,” Franchetti said.

Her remarks at the symposium coincided with the release of a paper outlining her priorities as CNO — titled “America’s Warfighting Navy” — categorizing her focus areas into three lines of effort: warfighting, warfighters and foundations.

“We must move rapidly to stay ahead and continuously create warfighting advantages. We must think, act, and operate differently, leveraging wargaming and experimentation to integrate conventional capability with hybrid, unmanned, and disruptive technologies,” it states. “Tomorrow’s battlefield will be incredibly challenging and complex. To win decisively in that environment, our Sailors must be the best warfighters in the world with the best systems, weapons, and platforms to ensure we can defeat our adversaries.”

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