“Hypersonics incoming at Mach 8! GIDEON’s engaging,” Meilof announced, the tension evident in her voice. “Hot damn! We scored six mid-course kills with the SM-6s. Whoa, a pair of missiles look like their guidance systems got fried by a microwave hit from Stormwatcher-1’s Leonidas-III. Their tracks are way off course, headed for empty water. That leaves four missiles remaining, all headed for the
Trammell was amazed by the results, something he knew they wouldn’t have been able to achieve without the aid of AI. Still, as he watched the remaining missiles still bearing down on them, he held hope the ACVs would come through in the end, if not, the
“Stormwatcher-2 and 3 are engaging,” Thompson updated as the vessels changed course and speed. “They’re attempting to herd the last four missiles into a convergence path for the cobalt beams.”
The Stormwatchers mounted a pair of 150kW cobalt beam lasers for hard kills in the terminal phase of a missile or drone attack. The laser turrets were mounted in a port and starboard fore and aft configuration to provide full 360-degree rotational fields of fire for layered engagement. With an effective range of two to five kilometers depending on the weather, it was a last-ditch weapon capable of firing eight to twelve bursts per minute, per turret, with no limits on its sustainability at that rate. Mounted port and starboard or in a staggered dorsal-fore/aft configuration
On the display, the simulated kill box lit up as the trap was sprung. The three Stormwatchers saturated the final vectors of the incoming missiles. The SeaRAMs engaged on staggered timing while the Leonidas-III pulsed microwave bursts across the last known glide paths of the incoming missiles. Three of the four YJ-21s vanished, swatted from the sky at the last second. The fourth changed its path, angling in for a different ship, causing the interceptors and microwave pulses to miss it entirely as it slammed into the Stormwatcher-3.
“Hit on Stormwatcher-3,” announced Meilof, her eyes narrowing as she rapidly read the incoming diagnostic reports. “Node severed. Autonomous control lost. Stormwatcher-3 is offline, destroyed. The Warden logistics USV is initiating recovery protocols.”
The room was silent for half a beat. Then Trammell exhaled. “OK, we just got bloodied. This fight’s not over and we’re not out of it yet!”
“Aye, sir,” Meilof said. “We’ve got this.”
The next ninety minutes of the exercise became a doctoral thesis in autonomous warfare as Trammell’s crew continued to push their unmanned vessels to their limits. The Dutch Harbor’s OPFOR threw increasingly complex scenarios at them, from coordinated submarine attacks to electronic warfare cyberattacks and even a repeat of an even larger simulated hypersonic strike. Each time, the GIDEON-AI adapted, learning not just from its successes but from the patterns in OPFOR’s tactics and how its human operators reacted to each iteration and action.
“They’re getting frustrated,” Meilof observed during a brief lull in the exercise. “HYDRA’s started using nondoctrinal approaches. That last attack pattern was pure improvisation.”
“Good,” Trammell said approvingly. “Real enemies won’t stick to the playbook either. It’s important for GIDEON to understand that.”
The contractor from Saronic, a thin man who’d introduced himself as David Liu, looked up from his workstation. “Excuse me, Captain, we’re seeing some interesting emergent behaviors in the mesh network. The platforms are starting to anticipate each other’s actions. It’s like they’re developing their own tactical language of sorts.”
“Huh, is that a problem or something we need to be worried about?” Trammell quizzed.
“No, not yet. I only bring it up because it’s something we didn’t model for. In fact, GIDEON’s efficiency has increased by twelve percent since the exercise started.”
“Wow, that’s pretty amazing. Make sure to continue to document everything. I’m sure your people will want to study this further after everything is over,” Trammell replied. This was what exercises were for. To test ideas, systems, and tactics before they were tested in war.
The exercise slowed as they finished going through the final elements that needed to be tested. Once they had completed the digital force-on-force test, they switched to live firing actual missiles and zapping target drones to test the lasers. This gave everyone a chance to do more than just test the ACVs’ computer-simulated battles — it allowed them to run through the process of firing missile salvos and then having to conduct missile reloads while underway. By the end of the day, the crew was exhausted, and so was Trammel. When the call to ENDEX was heard, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Good job, everyone. Secure from exercise stations,” Captain Trammell ordered. “I want GIDEON placed in standby mode and all ACVs returned to escort formation.”
