AUVSI’s Maritime Advocacy Committee (MAC) sets the federal legislative and regulatory priorities for the association based on input and feedback from its membership. The committee develops advocacy goals and policy positions to enable all AUVSI members to speak with a unified voice on behalf of the UMS industry. 
 

Last month, the Committee held leadership elections. Larry Ryder, Vice President of Business Development and External Affairs, Austal USA will serve as the new MAC Chair. Jenny Roberts, Vice President - Navy Fleet Requirements & Acquisition Accounts, SAIC will serve as Vice Chair for the next two years. 
 

Both Ryder and Roberts have been involved with the MAC in the past and want to help it continue to grow.  
 

“We want to increase our membership and our presence with the Navy and on the Hill as the voice of the uncrewed industry,” Ryder told AUVSI. “Over the last few years as the MAC has grown, we’ve become more engaged and have established ourselves as a resource for understanding the pulse of what industry is thinking and to help move programs ahead.” 
 

He added: “We’re seeing a lot more activity in uncrewed maritime systems - surface and subsurface - and that is reflective of the work that members of this committee have accomplished. The demand signal we’re seeing in return from the Department of Defense that they need to grow the uncrewed portion of the fleet. Our vision is for the industry to be able to deliver hundreds of these systems to the Navy and get them operationalized and supporting the warfighter.” 
 

Roberts shared her goal to help grow the industry by supporting expansion into different applications. “The Navy was an early adopter, but now there are other challenge surfacing that can be solved by uncrewed maritime systems,” she said. “We want to understand those needs, identify where our footprint can be expanded, and then pair that with where our MAC members are.” 
 

The majority of MAC membership is comprised of technology developers, innovators, and manufacturers. Roberts identified the disconnect between the rapid pace of technology development and the slow pace of enabling regulations as a top challenge for the industry. 
 

“If the U.S. wants to stay at the forefront of autonomous innovation and manufacturing, we need to look at the regulations that are slowing the pace of technology development. Once technology is proven, regulations need to be changed as appropriate,” Roberts said. 
 

She added: “Achieving this goal requires a bridge between developers and policymakers – we hope to serve as that bridge, bringing knowledge of how mature uncrewed maritime systems are to policymakers and regulators so that we can encourage their wider adoption for a host of applications.” 
 

Ryder agreed, saying: “The tech is ready, the industrial capacity to produce is ready, and reliability has been proven. We are ready to support the needs of the Department of Defense today.” 

 

Current MAC members include ABS, ATI, Austal USA, Booz Allen Hamilton, Boeing, Cherokee Nation Technologies, Gibbs & Cox / Leidos, Greenpoint Marine, HII, iXblue, Kongsberg, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, MARTAC, Metal Shark Boats, Northrop Grumman, Ocean Aero, Ocean STL, OKSI, Peraton, Raytheon, SAIC, Saildrone, Sea Machines, Seaborne Defense, Terradepth, Textron Systems, and ThayerMahan. 
 

Organizations in the uncrewed maritime industry can contact Mike Smitsky at msmitsky@auvsi.org to learn more about the MAC or to be connected with Ryder and Roberts.