The US Navy has demonstrated an AI-powered planning tool designed to speed up and simplify how it prepares unmanned missions across air, surface, and subsurface domains.
Developed by engineers at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), the Optimized Cross Domain Swarm Sensing (OCDSS) uses simulation-driven analysis to quickly generate mission plans.
The software runs thousands of virtual scenarios to determine the best combination of platforms, sensors, and formations to meet specific objectives.
“OCDSS gives warfighters fast, informed decision-making. That is a competitive advantage,” said Raymond Koehler, NAWCAD’s lead developer for OCDSS.
“Autonomy gives us the decisive edge at sea,” added Rear Adm. Todd Evans, NAWCAD Commander. “This system marks a major step forward in how we integrate unmanned systems across domains.”
Simulating the Fight Before It Starts
OCDSS lets mission planners tweak swarm configurations based on threats, objectives, and environmental conditions.
It also helps cut costs by swapping real-world testing for digital models, aligning with a wider military trend where simulation now drives up to 90 percent of system development.
The navy first ran the system through port security scenarios during a Coastal Trident exercise, then put it through a more recent live demo at a naval air station in Maryland to see how it holds up in real-world conditions.
Now prepped for wider use, OCDSS is set to scale across navy and marine corps missions as it moves into testing and early deployments.
“OCDSS levels-up how unmanned systems are used in a wide range of missions, and we’re ready to scale this autonomy to operational teams,” Koehler concluded.
