Maritime Battlespace Awareness

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) line item (LI 2361) in the Navy's FY 2026 budget is focused on the procurement, installation, and sustainment of critical maritime situational awareness and communications equipment for both surface ships and submarines. The primary goal of this program is to enhance the Navy's ability to identify, track, and communicate with commercial and military vessels. This supports improved safety of navigation, maritime domain awareness (MDA), and operational effectiveness in support of national security objectives.

The AIS program provides Very High Frequency (VHF) communication systems that enable ships to exchange navigation, identification, and cargo information automatically. This capability is essential for distinguishing between normal and suspicious maritime traffic, especially in approaches to U.S. and allied ports. The AIS systems feed critical track data to several command and control systems, including the Common Operational Picture (COP), AN/BYG-1 Combat System on submarines, Global Command and Control System-Maritime (GCCS-M), and Global Command and Control System-Joint (GCCS-J) at Fleet Maritime Operations Centers.

The program's objectives include fielding AIS (V)9 systems for Virginia and Ohio class submarines, which are tailored to the unique operational needs of these platforms. This includes encrypted data exchange and integration with onboard combat systems.

In addition to procurement, the AIS line item addresses cybersecurity requirements identified by the Naval Cyber Warfare Development Group (NCWDG) and in compliance with directives from the Navy's N2N6 directorate. The program funds a Cybersecurity Engineering Change to protect downstream systems from malformed or anomalous AIS data. This involves implementing hardware and software modifications that detect, log, and filter incoming data, and alert operators to potential threats. These upgrades are vital to prevent cyber vulnerabilities that could compromise the integrity of navigation and operational data across the fleet.

Within LI 2361, the Maritime Integrated Broadcast Service (MIBS) program has been consolidated from a previously separate budget line to streamline management and foster innovation. MIBS delivers near real-time Integrated Broadcast Service (IBS) data to Navy surface ships, shore headquarters, and joint platforms. This supports a wide range of warfare areas such as Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD), Anti-Air Warfare (AAW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW), Undersea Warfare (UW), and Electronic Warfare (EW). MIBS is critical for providing the Common Operational Picture and supporting Over-the-Horizon Targeting (OTH-T) and kill chain closure in denied environments.

The Joint Tactical Terminal Maritime Evolved (JTT-ME) system is a key component of the MIBS program. The FY 2026 budget supports the procurement and installation of JTT-ME systems to replace legacy JTT-Senior radios that are at end-of-life. JTT-ME provides a modern, secure, network-enabled infrastructure that is adaptable to future radios and waveforms, and is specified as a threshold capability by Fleet Commanders for global maritime command, control, and communications. The transition to JTT-ME is also driven by National Security Agency (NSA) mandates for secure communications and is essential for maintaining national command and control capabilities in distributed maritime operations.

Support activities funded under this line item include production support for both AIS and JTT-ME systems, as well as installation and direct support activities (DSA) to ensure timely and effective fielding of new hardware and software. The budget also covers consolidated prior year requirements, such as engineering change proposals, transponders, and combat workstations, to address evolving operational needs and maintain system relevance.