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U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Project 33 Is Expanding Its Targets

Personnel are looking to broaden the program to address more than just autonomy and artificial intelligence.

Vice Adm. Blake Converse, deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, speaks at TechNet Indo-Pacific 2024.

U.S. Navy officials associated with Project 33 are starting to broaden the program’s scope and increase the areas it covers.

Project 33 is now centering its attention on several areas of interest, including upgrading infrastructure; improving ship, aircraft and submarine effectiveness; increasing Navy personnel; and widening the Navy’s ability to conduct operations in a “live, virtual and constructive environment,” according to Vice Adm. Blake Converse, deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

This comes after officials with the chief of naval operations launched Project 33 in September. This initiative has seven target areas with an extreme focus on autonomy and artificial intelligence. The goal is to increase preparedness for conflict with China by 2027 and strengthen the United States’ long-term advantage, according to the U.S. Navy.

“Project 33 set a series of targets for strategically meaningful gains in the fastest possible time frame leveraging resources that we have today,” Converse said at TechNet Indo-Pacific 2024. “One of those seven targets is rapidly scaling and integrating robotic and autonomous systems across the fleet by 2027, and we’re making progress towards equity.”

“We’re building this into every domain and every warfighting regime,” Converse said. “In the end, the approach will not replace our legacy capabilities but enhance them with a hybrid fleet at significantly lower costs than traditional naval vessel construction.”

Converse added that Project 33 requires the construction of new command centers and collaboration and support among each domain’s command and control. And looking ahead, Project 33 will play a part in establishing the maritime operations center (MOC) to a fleet standard by 2027. The MOC concept was created to enhance planning and increase effectiveness at the operational level of war, according to the U.S. Navy.

“We’re already identifying the mission-essential tasks; we’re identifying the equipment requirements and the manual to do that,” Converse said. “Actually, frankly, we’re already there.”

TechNet Indo-Pacific is organized by AFCEA International and the AFCEA Hawaii Chapter. SIGNAL Media is the official media of AFCEA International.

"Project 33 set a series of targets for strategically meaningful gains in the fastest possible time frame leveraging resources that we have today," says Vice Adm. Blake Converse, USN, deputy commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, at TechNet Indo-Pacific 2024.