Supporting the Royal Australian Navy's Campaign Plan for Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Résumé du livre

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is modernising its forces to better address the growing challenges faced by Australia in the Indo-Pacific region. This report provides an overview of the various impacts of robotics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence (RAS-AI) on the Defence workforce to inform the RAN's ongoing efforts to facilitate RAS-AI integration. The authors draw on a review of relevant open-source academic and grey literature, with a focus on identifying possible lessons for the RAN. The analysis concentrated on the overall impacts of RAS-AI on the Defence workforce and skills, with a particular focus on the implications of human-machine teaming (HMT) for the Defence workforce. The findings underscore the fundamentally different and novel way of working required to effectively adopt HMT. Integration of HMT into the workforce will require flexible management of complex personnel networks and continuous adaptation of existing structures and concepts. This report is a continuation of work conducted in support of the RAN's RAS-AI Strategy 2040, released in 2020. RAND Australia was asked to provide policy analysis and advice to support development of an actionable RAS-AI Campaign Plan that could assist RAS-AI implementation efforts. The research team has examined three specific areas to support development of an actionable plan: military innovation, a missions and technology assessment for maritime RAS-AI, and HMT. This work should inform the RAN, other Australian Defence services, and Defence more broadly about the implications of HMT for the RAN's future workforce.