From the Ops Room to the Edge: A New Command Paradigm
Why Lattice AI Is a Game Changer for Naval Warfare
The modern naval battlespace is getting too fast, too broad, and too complex for traditional command systems to manage alone. As someone who's spent a career in operations rooms, interpreting tracks, coordinating with sensors, and making life-or-death calls based on limited information, I know firsthand the challenge of turning fragmented sensor data into real-time decisions.
Enter Lattice — Anduril's AI-powered command and control platform. While it may not yet be a household name in Royal Navy circles, I believe it soon will be. This is not just another decision aid or mission-planning tool. Lattice fundamentally changes how information flows and how decisions are made — not in some abstract future, but right now.
In this post, I want to explain what Lattice is, why it matters, and how it's quietly becoming one of the most critical software systems in modern defence. Suppose you work anywhere near maritime operations, mission planning, autonomy, or C2/C3 systems. In that case, it's time to get familiar with this game changer.
So What Is Lattice?
Lattice is not a weapon system. It doesn't launch missiles or fire guns. What it does is arguably more powerful: it sees everything, connects everything, and helps decide what happens next.
At its core, Lattice is an autonomous operating system for the battlespace. It collects sensor data from drones, cameras, radars, ships, satellites, submarines, and ground forces. It fuses it into a single, coherent picture. But it doesn't stop there. Lattice also interprets that data in real time, detects threats, prioritises targets, and recommends or initiates actions — all while keeping humans in the loop.
In effect, it serves as the AI backbone of multi-domain operations, not in a lab or on PowerPoint slides, but in live deployments across forward-operating bases, border zones, test ranges, and naval exercises. Lattice is already commanding swarms of drones and autonomous vessels, managing counter-intrusion systems, and detecting threats before operators even know they're there.
What makes it different is that it's fast, modular, and distributed. This isn't a monolithic command system designed in the 1990s. It's a modern, networked AI mesh designed for the fluid nature of today's conflicts — including grey-zone incidents, drone swarms, denial-of-service attacks, and hybrid threats. Lattice doesn't rely on a central server farm or cloud backend. It runs on rugged edge hardware — on ships, on bases, in the field — and it doesn't blink when comms go down. That resilience alone makes it a potential game-changer.
Why It Matters to Navies
Suppose you've ever tried to manage multiple drones from a warship, or attempted to correlate periscope sightings from a UAV with what your radar is telling you. In that case, you'll know that traditional systems weren't built for this. Combat Management Systems (CMS) like TACTICOS, AEGIS, or DNA(2) were engineered for their ships, not for the age of distributed, autonomous assets. Lattice flips the script.
It doesn't replace those legacy systems. It complements and extends them.
Where CMS keeps the ship's internal house in order, Lattice connects that ship to a broader ecosystem of sensors, shooters, and decision-makers across domains. It doesn't just ingest data — it understands context. It detects patterns. It triages threats. It coordinates autonomous assets on your behalf.
This is especially relevant in maritime grey-zone operations, where a patrol vessel, a few drones, and limited bandwidth are used to secure a vital chokepoint or inspect a suspected hostile undersea cable tap. Lattice brings those assets together into a coherent, self-synchronising force. And it does so without adding to your operator workload — if anything, it lightens it.
Built for the Edge
One of Lattice's most essential features is that it's designed to run on deployed, degraded, and denied networks. No reliance on a big server in a bunker. It runs on ruggedised boxes, small enough to deploy with forward forces or bolt into a warship's mission bay.
It forms a mesh network, meaning every connected sensor, drone, vehicle, or ship is both a contributor and a consumer of the tactical picture. If one node loses communication, the others continue to work. If a new asset joins, it gets the picture immediately.
This is precisely the kind of robustness we need in modern naval operations, especially in contested environments where satellite communications (satcom) may be denied or jammed. Lattice enables your force to continue operating with local autonomy even when the rest of the network is degraded. It's command resilience by design.
Speed as a Weapon
In warfare, speed kills — or saves. Lattice enables you to transition from detection to decision to action more quickly than the adversary. And it does so without overwhelming operators.
Imagine a scenario: a swarm of low-cost enemy drones is approaching a naval facility at night. Lattice, integrated into the surveillance network, detects the swarm as anomalous motion even before the radar classifies them. It alerts the operator, assigns autonomous intercept drones to investigate, and recommends a kinetic response if hostile intent is confirmed — all within seconds. The operator can authorise with a click. No need to manually fly drones, monitor ten feeds, or cross-check radar plots.
That kind of machine-speed OODA loop is what makes Lattice dangerous — to the adversary.
Why This Changes the Game
We've had command systems for decades. We've had AI analytics. We've had drones. But we've never had a single system that links them all into one real-time, adaptive, decision-capable network — until now.
Lattice turns disconnected platforms into a coordinated force. It enables true manned-unmanned teaming. It removes the friction between sensors and shooters. And it does so in a way that's secure, scalable, and flexible enough for forward deployments.
To me, the most exciting thing is how Lattice democratises capability. It enables small units, including OPVs or modular deployable teams, to operate with the situational awareness and coordination once reserved for capital ships and joint headquarters. In an era of dispersed, agile operations, that's a force multiplier.
The Bottom Line
Lattice is not just another C2 system. It's a new model for warfare — one where AI isn't just a buzzword, but a working partner in the battlespace. It doesn't fight for you, but it helps you fight smarter, faster, and with better information.
I believe Lattice represents the future of how we command in contested, autonomous-rich environments. It's the connective tissue we've been missing between ship, drone, base, and operator. It won't solve every challenge, but it shifts the game.
Suppose you're planning the next-generation navy or retrofitting current platforms for autonomy and grey-zone threats. In that case, Lattice should be on your radar.
It's already here. The question is whether we're ready to integrate it, before someone else does first.