4-day meeting at the Navy Officers Club in Rome between NATO countries and bodies for a period of comparison on capacitive development, use, integration and interoperability of unmanned systems.
From 27 February to 3 March, at the “Caio Duilio” Officers Club of the Italian Navy in Rome, the XII edition of the NATO Maritime Unmanned System Initiative (MUSI) Steering Board took place, an event that takes place 3 times a year since 2018, when at the Brussels Summit the leaders of NATO countries affirmed the strategic importance of the maritime domain and declared their intention to invest in new autonomous capabilities and Unmanned, or without a pilot.
The participating NATO countries and articulations to date are: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, UK, USA Australia, the NATO Science and Technology Organization Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (STO CMRE), the NATO Maritime Commander (MARCOM), CJOS COE (Combined Joint Operations from the Sea Centre of Excellence).
The national participation in NATO MUSI (Captain Andrea Quondamatteo is the national Head of Delegation) has strategic importance for the country, the Defense and the Navy in particular, as it contributes to the consolidation of Italy’s important role within the Atlantic Alliance and offers an opportunity for discussion and connection in the field of capacity development, employment, integration and interoperability of unmanned systems with the means already in use by the Navy, the so-called maritime instrument.
NATO MUSI is also functional to promote and identify technological solutions capable of connecting the nodes of an ideal network (so-called Underwater Network) consisting of ships, submarines, unmanned vehicles, buoys and sensors in order to guarantee the protection of the vital interests that develop in the sea and on which the strategic autonomy and prosperity of Italy and of the reference Alliances (NATO and EU) depend: vital and strategic interests such as gas pipelines for diversified energy supplies, data backbones on which the digital economy is based and which will make Italy a digital hub for Europe to India and Asia, electricity cables for energy continuity in favor of islands, offshore mining sites.
The NATO MUSI represents a further opportunity to highlight the importance of the underwater dimension and the exclusive role of the Navy in the seas of the Enlarged Mediterranean to guarantee the monitoring and protection of the sea as a whole, which at national level is running with great strides towards the establishment of the National Pole of the Underwater Dimension in La Spezia. In this context, Italian industry has also had the opportunity to promote the projects it follows and invests in, ensuring constant connection with government requirements. Representatives of FINCANTIERI, LEONARDO, SAIPEM and INTERMARINE presented their perspectives and capabilities able to meet the evolutionary needs of the Maritime Instrument and face the challenges that await us.
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