Executive Summary
The Naval Postgraduate School's September 2025 Warfare Innovation Continuum (WIC) Workshop brought together diverse teams to rapidly generate concepts for a "Future Fleet" leveraging emerging technologies like uncrewed systems. Focusing on a 2026 scenario of "Revanchism & Resources in the Autonomous Age," the workshop explored solutions for sea control, sustainment, targeting, and maritime industrial bases. Key outcomes included concepts for layered defense, all-domain C2, and uncrewed systems proliferation.
Why It Matters
This document provides a quick look into a critical workshop focused on developing future naval warfare concepts, particularly emphasizing the integration of uncrewed and autonomous systems, which is vital for understanding evolving maritime strategy and technological advancements. Defense analysts should care about the innovative concepts generated and the strategic implications for naval power projection and competition.
Key Takeaways
- Future naval systems should prioritize multi-domain components for resilience and cost-effectiveness over traditional multi-mission platforms.
- The ability to rapidly regenerate lost components is crucial for mission success in a conflict environment.
- Interdisciplinary collaboration and diverse inputs are essential for generating innovative solutions to complex warfare challenges.
- The workshop generated specific concepts like "Layered Defense" and "Enabling eXponential Proliferation of Autonomous Naval & Drone Systems (EXPAND)".
- The workshop's output will inform future NPS research, theses, and wargaming, shaping naval doctrine and technology development.
- A dedicated "Force Writers Room" is developing a short film to convey future multi-domain operations challenges for AUKUS partners.
Strategic Relevance
This workshop directly contributes to the development of future naval warfare concepts and doctrine, particularly in the integration of autonomous and uncrewed systems. The concepts generated address critical challenges in sea control, targeting, and logistics, providing insights into how the U.S. Navy and its allies envision maintaining competitive advantage in an evolving geopolitical landscape.