Australia: a look at collaborative combat with Crossing

24 June 2025

Collaborative combat requires an understanding of interactions between operators and autonomous systems. This is the goal of the Learning from Operational Teaming with Unmanned Systems (LOTUSim) simulation platform, developed by Naval Group in close collaboration with the Franco-Australian laboratory Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems in Next Generation (Crossing).

As collaborative combat reshapes military strategies, placing multi-agent interactions, human-autonomous cooperation and multi-domain integration (air, surface and submarine) at the core of future operations, Naval Group is focusing its efforts on these key challenges. To address these issues, the group is leveraging the unique expertise of the Crossing laboratory in Adelaide, Australia, to develop groundbreaking R&D projects in naval defence. “Among the future technologies we are currently working on, we have autonomous underwater drones and decision-making tools using augmented reality,” says Cédric Buche, Scientific Director of Naval Group Pacific.

 

Understanding and acting in real time

Collaborative combat is transforming military operations, with multiple operators interacting in real time with autonomous systems to make operational decisions. Meeting these demands requires an immediate and shared understanding of complex environments involving a variety of agents, including humans, aerial drones, surface drones and underwater drones.

The LOTUSim platform R&D project is developed with this perspective in mind. This environment simulates multi-domain operations using multi-agent systems to reflect on the military paradigm shifts related to drone warfare and collaborative combat. It facilitates the development of combined human-drone teams and the evaluation of AI algorithms under dynamic, realistic and inherently uncertain situations.

 

Collaboration at the highest level

Since 2021, Naval Group has been working closely with the ecosystem coordinated by Crossing, a leading organisation that brings together research institutes, universities and major industrial players. The laboratory projects led by CNRS bring together researchers, PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows, engineers and technicians from prestigious French and Australian academic institutions, including IMT Atlantique (part of Institut Mines-Telecom), the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia (UniSA) and Flinders University. This high-level scientific cooperation reflects Naval Group’s dedication to co-developing technologies with the best partners, regardless of their location, to guarantee the operational superiority of the navies of tomorrow.

 

 

Check out our feature on international innovation in Naval Review #2.