The U.S. Navy is turning to the private sector for cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to strengthen the performance of its maritime operations centers (MOCs), according to a new solicitation issued on May 23.
The solicitation was released by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) on behalf of the Navy as part of the service’s Situational Awareness by Intelligent Learning Systems program.
According to the solicitation, the Navy seeks commercial AI and machine learning solutions to accelerate data integration from sources like intelligence reports and satellite inputs, enhancing MOC situational awareness and providing real-time decision support, including track confidence scoring and resource allocation recommendations.
The effort aims to bring commercial innovation into naval operations by addressing the complex data challenges faced by MOCs, which must synthesize immense volumes of tactical and operational data – often from disparate sources generated by U.S. Navy platforms – to support critical decisions on resource deployment and mission planning across vast geographic areas.
MOCs serve as the Navy’s command-and-control hubs and are central to future distributed maritime operations. Under the Chief of Naval Operations’ Navigation Plan, all fleet headquarters are expected to certify MOCs in core warfighting functions by 2027.
Navy leadership has identified AI and machine learning as critical enablers in achieving these capabilities.
Selected vendors will collaborate with government engineers and operational end-users, including ashore operators, to tailor and test their solutions. The Navy is open to submissions from individual companies or teams, and all applicants must demonstrate relevant use cases for decision support applications.
Responses to the solicitation are due by June 6, and interested companies can find further submission details through the DIU’s official channels.