Submarines from the U.S. and Portuguese navies have performed joint anti-submarine warfare (ASW) coaching and operational experimentation throughout NATO’s Dynamic Messenger/REPMUS 2025 workouts off Portugal.
The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS New Mexico (SSN 779) and Portuguese diesel-electric NRP Tridente (209PN) skilled alongside the frigate NRP Francisco de Almeida (F334) and patrol vessel NRP Setubal (P363).
A spotlight of the train was USS New Mexico’s deployment of a submarine-launched unmanned aerial system (UAS) in what NATO described as operational experimentation.
Rear Admiral Grabbe, Commander of NATO Submarines, mentioned: “This coaching and the operational experimentation embody innovation and reveal how Allies can combine submarines with unmanned platforms to realize operational benefit.” He added that such cooperation “paves the best way for future operations the place conventional and rising applied sciences should function seamlessly in high-threat, multi-domain theatres.”
Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher, Commander Submarine Drive / Allied Submarine Command, linked the trials on to defending vital infrastructure. “Our dedication to Dynamic Messenger/REPMUS highlights the shared crucial for the U.S. and all our NATO companions to defend the seabed. By demonstrating interoperability between our platforms, folks, and robotic autonomous programs, we construct the potential and capability to share the burden of defending our vital undersea infrastructure.”
Working in tandem, the Portuguese-led Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Programs (REPMUS) train centered on maritime unmanned programs improvement and interoperability.
Vice Admiral José Salvado de Figueiredo, Fleet Commander of the Portuguese Navy, mentioned:
“Having the Portuguese submarine NRP Tridente working with USS New Mexico, taking part within the largest NATO/Portugal maritime robotics train on this planet, Dynamic Messenger/REPMUS, and conducting operational experimentation with unmanned programs, constitutes a related milestone within the already lengthy historical past of the Portuguese Navy Submarine Service.”
Each workouts, NATO mentioned, purpose to ship unmanned programs and capabilities into Allied naval forces with pace and scale.