NATO press release
A fleet of autonomous systems to provide persistent surveillance, detect and track potential threats, and enhance situational awareness in the maritime domain.
NATO faces an evolving maritime security environment characterized by increased Russian aggression, including threats to critical undersea infrastructure. The threat has been underscored by the recent damage to undersea cables in the Baltic connecting NATO Allies. To counter these threats and deter any future attempts by state or non-state actors, Allied Command Transformation has worked with Allied Command Operations and NATO Headquarters to establish TASK FORCE X, a specialized initiative focused on delivering capabilities that exploit emerging and disruptive technologies, including autonomous systems and artificial intelligence into maritime operations in order to enhance the Alliance’s situational awareness of sea lines of communication and safeguard critical undersea infrastructure. The system will be tested in mid-February, 2025, as part of Baltic Sentry which aims to improve Allies’ ability to respond to destabilizing acts.
TASK FORCE X will be multi-domain and applicable to NATO’s 360-degree approach. It will build on existing NATO decisions and initiatives, in the areas of Autonomy and Digital Transformation, as well as NATO’s Digital Ocean Vision. TASK FORCE X will leverage successful initiatives like the United States Navy’s Task Forces 59 and 66, employing a fleet of maritime autonomous systems to provide persistent surveillance, detect and track potential threats, and enhance situational awareness. This approach offers a cost-effective and rapidly deployable solution to counter Russian aggression. It’s also a demonstration of NATO’s commitment to technological innovation.
Initially TASK FORCE X will deploy to the Baltic Sea, although the framework is designed over time to be applicable and scalable across regions, domains and problem sets, as required by Allies.
“We have agreed today to launch an initiative to deploy new technologies to this effort, including a small fleet of naval drones, to provide enhanced surveillance and deterrence. We are also working with Allies to integrate their national surveillance assets with NATO, ensuring comprehensive threat detection.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit, January 14th, 2025.
“TASK FORCE X will integrate uncrewed systems with existing naval forces before transitioning to a fully autonomous fleet, operating independently to counter threats and protect critical infrastructure. It will collect data between uncrewed systems and other emergent technologies, fuse that data within a resilient network and utilize artificial intelligence shape situational awareness. This is one of many tangible examples of how NATO is rapidly adapting its forces to a changing international security environment and countering the threats against NATO Nations.”
Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation.
Key Features of TASK FORCE X
TASK FORCE X will be a multinational effort, integrating elements of autonomous vessels able to operate autonomously, conducting persistent surveillance, and rapidly responding to threats. TASK FORCE X will showcase the employment of emerging technologies and prioritize Alliance interoperability and scalability, allowing nations to contribute their own capabilities, while ensuring integration within the overall NATO framework.
Next Steps
NATO Allied Command Transformation has extended an invitation to all Allies, but particularly those bordering the Baltic Sea and those with strong maritime innovation capabilities, to join this critical initiative. By combining national efforts and leveraging cutting-edge technology, TASK FORCE X will significantly enhance NATO’s maritime capabilities and contribute to the collective defense of the Alliance.
NATO Allied Command Transformation leads the strategic warfare development of NATO’s military structures, forces, capabilities and doctrines. It aims to innovate and maintain a warfighting edge to improve the military effectiveness of the Alliance.
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Naval News comments
Initiated on 13 January 2025, ‘Baltic Sentry’ is building maritime surveillance and presence activity to deter rogue actor threats to the Baltic Sea’s CUI network. Two NATO task groups – Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) and Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) – sit centrally within this activity. These standing naval forces (SNFs) are adding more ships to their ‘orders of battle’, alongside working with NATO navies’ national task groups and individual ships, national and regional maritime operations centres (MOCs), and regional sensor networks, to strengthen maritime surveillance and deterrence to meet mission aims.
As a multi-domain activity, ‘Baltic Sentry’ will deter CUI threats by enhancing surveillance capacity and effect from seabed to space. In this operational context, with the surveillance coverage focused on non-routine shipping activity on the sea’s surface and change detection around CUI on the seabed, the MCM component offers added value.
