Defense personnel, government officials and key stakeholders are gathering this month to see first-hand the uncrewed and autonomous equipment being developed and deployed by the three AUKUS nations.

The event centers on four core areas: anti-submarine warfare, including tracking and surveillance using crewed and autonomous systems; lethality, exploring how systems can operate together as integrated forces; contested resupply, to sustain logistics in challenging environments; and subsea and seabed warfare.

The demonstration aims to reach key milestones in integrating mature robotics and autonomous systems into AUKUS operations. Over the course of the month, more than 40 government and industry technologies from across the three partner nations will be on show, spanning multi-domain autonomous, crewed and uncrewed systems.

The UK is leading the anti-submarine warfare strand, bringing a range of uncrewed surface vessels, underwater gliders, drones and subsea vehicles to the event.

Pillar 2 of the trilateral AUKUS partnership focuses on the seamless integration of autonomous systems across Australia, the UK and the US, as the partners work to strengthen their joint fighting capability.

Taking place in San Diego, the Maritime Big Play event will bring together a wide range of technology demonstrations and trials, showcasing progress made so far and setting out ambitions for the future.

Second Sea Lord Vice-Admiral Paul Beattie is attending, alongside Sir Stephen Lovegrove, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on AUKUS.

Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States are staging their largest ever demonstration of uncrewed and autonomous technology.

Second Sea Lord Vice-Admiral Paul Beattie said: “Maritime Big Play demonstrates the real, tangible progress we are making with our AUKUS partners to deliver cutting-edge autonomous capability at sea.

“This is about more than technology on display, it’s about proving that our forces can operate together seamlessly, sharing data and combining assets to stay ahead of future threats.

“The Royal Navy is proud to lead the way on anti-submarine warfare within this partnership, and I look forward to seeing how this collaboration continues to grow in the months ahead.”

Maritime Big Play builds on three years of intensive trilateral collaboration, advancing shared command and control solutions and delivering secure “stratosphere to seabed” communications that allow AUKUS partners to operate in coordination at sea.

The event follows the historic firing of a US torpedo from the Royal Navy’s XV Excalibur under the AUKUS Pillar 2 partnership, the preliminary market engagement notice supporting development of the Type 93 capability—extra-large uncrewed underwater vessels that will work alongside crewed hunter-killer submarines to seek and destroy enemy submarines—and the Royal Navy’s continued commitments under the AUKUS Pillar 2 Signature Project.