Brazil hosts first Maritime Unmanned Systems exercise

The Brazilian-made Suppressor X and VSNT-CMM USVs, both shown here, have been demonstrated during the ‘ARAMUSS 2025' exercise. (Victor Barreira)

The Brazilian Navy conducted its first Maritime Unmanned Systems (MUS) operational experimentation – the ‘ARAMUSS' (Aratu Maritime Unmanned Systems Simulation) 2025 – exercise in Brazil in mid-November at the navy's Aratu Naval Complex.

The exercise is meant to demonstrate and evaluate technologies and solutions, and to promote the exchange of technical information, the navy said.

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Organised by Minelaying and Minesweeping Force Command of the Command of the 2nd Naval District, the exercise took place in an area composed of the Aratu Naval Base, the Bay of Aratu, and the Bay of All Saints, in Salvador, state of Bahia.

It was principally focused on fielding unmanned and autonomous systems such as unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in mine-countermeasures (MCM) operations, according to the Brazilian Navy.

‘ARAMUSS 2025' offered a realistic environment to test and evaluate new maritime capabilities, the Commander of Minelaying and Minesweeping Force Command, Commander Rodrigo Bouças, told Janes.

The unmanned systems were aimed at keeping maritime traffic lines along the coastline and maritime areas free of the threat of mines during the live exercise, the Brazilian Navy said.

Operational demonstrations during the ‘ARAMUSS 2025' exercise also spanned other domains, including the protection of critical undersea infrastructure; persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); integrated multidomain command-and-control (C2); and data exploitation, the Brazilian Navy added.