Specialized task forces from NATO and the United States Navy are collaborating to develop autonomous capabilities to improve maritime security in the Baltic Sea.
NATO’s Task Force X and the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 66 are working to ensure unmanned surface vessels (USV) developed by allied nations are interoperable and allow data sharing for identifying targets and situational awareness. Allies intensified efforts to deploy the new technology after what officials described as multiple acts of sabotage damaging undersea cables and other infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. Authorities believe Russian vessels caused the damage.
“We are never going to have enough boats or assets or capabilities to do this alone,” U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Michael Mattis, commander of Task Force 66, said during a panel discussion at the National Defense Industrial Association August 2025 Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference and Exhibition, according to National Defense magazine. “We’re going to have to do it in a smarter way, and partnering with NATO on this just made a lot of sense but getting everything connected was the first step.”
Task Force X is a NATO initiative led by Allied Command Transformation with Allied Command Operations, NATO’s Maritime Command and NATO Headquarters. The effort focuses on delivering capabilities that exploit emerging and disruptive technologies, including autonomous systems and artificial intelligence into maritime operations, according to a NATO news release.
The U.S. Navy’s Task Force 66 was established in 2024 at Naval Forces Europe-Africa to work with partner countries to develop uncrewed systems that enhance domain awareness. The task force has been supporting Ukraine with intelligence sharing and capabilities development, but “ultimately our last goal was to support NATO and help NATO to increase burden sharing when it comes to robotic and autonomous systems,” Mattis said during the panel discussion.
In May 2025, Task Force 66 tested an unmanned system built by U.S. Navy civilian engineers from the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic’s Unmanned Naval Innovation Team (UNIT) at Port Wojenny, Gdynia, Poland, during the exercise Arcane Thunder 25, according to a U.S. Navy news release. The teams demonstrated USV integration with Tactical Assault Kit data collection alongside NATO Allies and U.S. Fleet operational units.
“Arcane Thunder highlighted NIWC Atlantic’s dedication to delivering solutions that enhance fleet capabilities across multiple domains while strengthening NATO interoperability,” Eric Stephenson, lead systems engineer for UNIT, said in the news release. “Our technologies directly supported the Navy’s vision for a hybrid fleet that seamlessly integrates manned and unmanned systems.”
Following Arcane Thunder, UNIT deployed to Ustka, Poland, for the Baltic Operations 25 (BALTOPS) exercise. While there, U.S. teams worked with Task Force X to integrate their technology with NATO’s, enabling seamless data sharing between U.S. and Allied forces. This supported real-time information flow to NATO’s Coalition Warrior Integration Exercise in Poland — the Alliance’s largest-ever digital interoperability exercise, according to a NATO news release.
“Our BALTOPS technologies supported NATO’s emerging Maritime Unmanned Systems C2 architecture. Using standardized formats … we enabled critical maritime data sharing across the Alliance,” Michael Grass, UNIT program manager, said in the U.S. Navy news release. “BALTOPS showed how quickly we’re advancing unmanned system integration across domains,” Grass noted. “These lessons will shape future exercises and deployments.”