NAVCENT hosts Ukraine delegation for tour of unmanned and AI Task Force

ByNAVCENTPublicAffairs

U.S.NavalForcesCentralCommand/ U.S.5thFleet

MANAMA, Bahrain Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, welcomed a Ukrainian delegation to the U.S. Navy’sregionalheadquartersinBahrain,March13

Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Arab Emirates Dmytro Senik joined six members of the Ukrainian Parliament for a NAVCENT briefing on regional maritime security cooperation and unmanned technology integration.

The delegation learned about NAVCENT’s latest efforts in integrating advanced unmanned systems and artificialintelligenceintoregionalmaritimeoperations

An unmanned and artificial intelligence task force NAVCENT established in 2021, called Task Force 59, is currentlyspearheadinganefforttoformamultinational fleetof100unmannedsurfacevesselsbasedintheMiddle East by end of the summer U.S. 5th Fleet announced in February the task force and regional partners have approachedthehalfwaypointtowardthatgoal.

NAVCENTiscurrentlyleadingthelargestnavalexercise in the Middle East, called International Maritime Exercise2023 Thetrainingeventincludes7,000personnel from over 50 countries and organizations, 35 ships and more than 30 unmanned and artificial intelligence systemsoperatingintheArabianGulf,ArabianSea,Gulf ofOman,RedSea,IndianOceanandEastAfricancoastal regions

The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses approximately2.5millionsquaremilesofwaterareaand includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts oftheIndianOceanandthreecriticalchokepointsatthe StraitofHormuz,SuezCanalandStraitofBabal-Mandeb