Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems’ marine electronics division Atlas Elektronik is taking on the principal role in the GhostPlay@SEA research project. GhostPlay@SEA creates an AI-supported simulation environment for maritime combat scenarios.
Atlas Eletronik will act as consortium leader. The company is contributing its extensive expertise in the maritime sector and playing a central part in the development of tactical artificial intelligence (AI) in the maritime defence industry.
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Defence Metaverse
GhostPlay@SEA is a project funded by the Bundeswehr technology programme dtec.bw, which builds on the results of the original GhostPlay project. GhostPlay created a so-called “Defence Metaverse”, a high-performance simulation environment for AI-based combat simulations on land and in the air. This vision is now being expanded to include the maritime dimension.
The aim of the project is to explore AI-supported methods in order to develop and evaluate new and proven tactical behaviour patterns and decision-making processes for naval warfare. In addition, the transfer of virtually trained tactics to real hardware will be researched and piloted.
Dr Jeronimo Dzaack, Co-Head of Future Tech at Atlas, explains: ‘GhostPlay@SEA aims to fundamentally change the way future naval operations are planned and conducted and to further expand the technological leadership of all partners involved. In the virtual environment, highly complex combat situations can be realistically simulated, and optimal tactics can be safely tested.’
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From drone swarms to autonomous submarines
By using state-of-the-art AI and simulation technologies, future threat scenarios – from drone swarms to autonomous submarines – can be simulated in advance within a risk-free virtual environment.
‘This makes it possible to test and optimise tactical concepts at an early stage, even before real systems are deployed. The knowledge gained in this way flows directly into the development of new maritime defence technologies,’ continues Dzaack.
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GhostPlay@SEA consortium
The GhostPlay@SEA consortium includes major players from science and industry, the Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, HENSOLDT, 21Strategies, Rheinmetall and Borchert Research Consulting. As a pioneer of such a digital combat training ground, GhostPlay@SEA is to pave the way for a new era of maritime defence technology and strengthen the future operational capability of the navy through artificial tactical excellence.
Picture by Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems.
