Photo By Dana Rene White | Alan Jaeger (left, closest to the screen), Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme...... read more read more
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U.S. industry and government representatives from around the country as well as those from several U.S. Navy enterprises, all focused on unmanned and robotics systems, came together to learn how they could participate in a multination maritime exercise this fall during a two-day event hosted by Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) and the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA).
NSWC PHD acting Chief Technology Officer Alan Jaeger serves as the U.S. head of delegation for the NATO Joint Capability Group for Maritime Unmanned Systems (JCGMUS) and helped organize the industry day and exercise preplanning meeting, held Jan. 13-14 at the command’s Fathomwerx Lab at the Port of Hueneme and at the USNA in Annapolis, Maryland.
The focus of the two-day gathering held in person and online was to discuss plans for the next Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Uncrewed Systems, or REPMUS, exercise in Troia, Portugal. The annual exercise, first launched in 2019, is a Portuguese-led event under the advisement of an international advisory committee of which JCGMUS is a member, Jaeger explained.
Jaeger was appointed through the Office of the Under Secretary of War (OUSW) as the JCGMUS U.S. head of delegation in November 2024. Brendan Applegate, NSWC PHD lead for fleet experimentation and exercises, was appointed to serve as a co-deputy.
“We are responsible for endorsing and coordinating any and all U.S. engagement in REPMUS,” Jaeger said.
In-person and virtual presenters at the JCGMUS Industry Day and REPMUS pre-Initial Planning Conference discussed outcomes from last year’s REPMUS exercise and how interested U.S. parties could fit into this year’s event, set for Aug. 31-Sept. 25.
More than 80 industry companies focused on unmanned and robotics products joined representatives of several university labs to hear some of the requirements for joining REPMUS this year.
Also participating were officials from OUSW, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Office of Naval Research, Naval Sea Systems Command program offices and warfare centers, and the newly created Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Robotics and Autonomous Systems (PAE RAS).
Testing in the water
REPMUS features live robotic and autonomous systems demonstrations with NATO allies and partners, taking place near the Portuguese Navy’s Operational Experimentation Centre in Troia. Additional exercises focused more on underwater unmanned systems take place simultaneously in Sesimbra, Portugal.
Last year’s participants included the United States, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
REPMUS offers an opportunity to see how participating nations, militaries and industry companies perform — or in some cases, don’t perform — together when they are assigned to various scenarios.
Systems might include unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sonar buoys, fixed and drifting acoustic sensors, hydrophone arrays and more.
Jamie Lukos, senior technologist for cognitive and decision science with Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific and REPMUS U.S. coordination lead, discussed some of the lessons learned from last year’s exercise and goals for this year’s REPMUS event.
“You will probably hear interoperability a lot over the next two days,” said Lukos, who attended the event in the Fathomwerx Lab conference room. “That’s the whole concept of what we are trying to do. This isn’t just a tech demonstration, where you show up with your stuff and play in the water. This is working with allies and other partners to achieve specific operational goals.”
The road to REPMUS
Jaeger emphasized to commercial representatives interested in getting some of their systems into REPMUS exercises that they have to present matured and already tested technologies for participation.
“This isn’t about bringing something and experimenting for the first time; there are other venues and environments for that,” Jaeger said. “This is how we engage our industries and allied partners and work together in an operational environment.”
Lukos said showing their interest early is a good first step for those industry and academic lab representatives who want to be involved — but it is just one step of many on the road to REPMUS.
“There is a need for engagement throughout the entire year,” she said. “Interoperability involves not only technical elements but also mission planning. We need to understand early on what your technology is and what missions we can accomplish with it.”
Greg Nevolo, co-founder and CEO of Standard Industries LLC in Goleta, California, attended the two-day event at Fathomwerx Lab to learn where his company’s partners might fit into the REPMUS exercise in 2027 or later.
Standard Industries is an enabler for unmanned systems and showcased some of its flexible hybrid electronics, transparent conformal antennas, radio frequency/electromagnetic films and printed sensor arraysat the Fathomwerx Summit last fall, held at Fathomwerx Lab.
“We won’t be participating this year, but I’m here to learn about the ecosystem and where opportunities for our company and our partners could be,” Nevolo said. “We want to make sure what we are developing is serving a need or addressing a problem that the NATO allies and our own U.S. partners might have.”
Ryan Jackson, a consultant with AEVEX Aerospace of Solana Beach, California, also attended the event at Fathomwerx Lab. Jackson is a former naval aviator who retired just under two years ago.
While still enlisted, he attended REPMUS 2023 and also was there in 2025 as part of a site survey for future planning opportunities.
“This exercise provides an environment where technology companies who have minimal resources for full-scale tests can help bring that tech to the next level,” Jackson said. “REPMUS provides the range space and the infrastructure to bring these technologies together as well as expose them to both national and international military organizations.
“The key to this is the interoperability as well as sharing tactics, techniques and procedures,” Jackson added. “There is a shared understanding of how we are going to do business with each other.”
AEVEX is working with Commander, Task Force 66 (CTF 66), a forward-deployable, all-domain task force established in May 2024 in Naples, Italy, focusing on integrating robotic and autonomous systems into fleet operations.
CTF 66 was part of last year’s REPMUS exercise, deploying three Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Crafts, or GARCs, to disrupt a swarm of attacking USVs and protect critical infrastructure from harm.
“This year CTF 66 is working with AEVEX and will bring in several of our Mako unmanned surface vessels that can be missionized,” Jackson said. “They can be used for multiple applications, including reconnaissance and surveillance. It’s the first time we will have our platforms participating in REPMUS, so we are very excited.”
U.S.-based businesses and academic labs interested in participating in REPMUS 2026 or seeking more information can visit https://repmus-us.outrider.app/ or email JCGMUS_USLeadership@us.navy.mil.
The REPMUS Initial Planning Conference is set for Feb. 9-13 at the Portuguese Naval Academy in Lisbon, Portugal. Additional meetings will be held in May and late June before the exercise kicks off at the end of August.
| Date Taken: | 02.06.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2026 13:51 |
| Story ID: | 557638 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
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