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NATO Allies strengthened maritime defense capabilities during three-day Digital Ocean Vision wargames. The exercise was a part of the Alliance’s broader effort to harness emerging technologies and enhance interoperability across maritime forces.

The wargames held from June 10 to 13, 2025, brought together experts and officials from across NATO structures and key partner nations, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

At the core of the event was a high-stakes digital wargame, an exercise simulating complex maritime threats and scenarios to test and compare the effectiveness of next-generation technologies alongside traditional naval platforms.

Participants evaluated a range of systems, from artificial intelligence-driven decision aids to autonomous underwater vehicles, against legacy platforms such as frigates, corvettes, maritime patrol aircraft, and submarines.

From seabed to space

The Digital Ocean Vision is NATO’s ambitious initiative aimed at transforming maritime situational awareness across all domains, from the ocean floor to orbit. The goal is to integrate national and Allied capabilities, ranging from satellites and undersea sensors to aerial drones and autonomous surface vessels, into a cohesive system that improves decision-making, threat detection, and operational response.

Eyes in the sky🛰
Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles #UAV boost @NATO’s Task Force X with persistent aerial surveillance. They detect threats early, link air-sea awareness, and help protect ports, assets, and critical infrastructure.
More on Task Force X, a fleet of high-tech maritime… pic.twitter.com/QMZixiDEgk

— NATO ACT (@NATO_ACT) June 11, 2025

According to NATO, the project represents “a new era of maritime defense” where digital innovation complements, and in some cases augments, existing hardware.

“From 10 to 13 June (2025), as part of its pioneering initiative Digital Ocean Vision, NATO offered participants the opportunity to test and compare next-generation systems alongside traditional naval platforms, in a digital wargame.”

Comparing emerging technologies

One of the major outcomes of the wargame was the comparative performance analysis between traditional naval assets and emerging, often disruptive, technologies. These included uncrewed surface vessels, AI-enabled detection systems, and real-time data-sharing platforms.

“During the event, participants from across the NATO structures, as well as wargaming experts from the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands, were able to test next-generation systems against traditional naval platforms such as frigates, corvettes, maritime patrol aircraft, and submarines.”

This head-to-head comparison was critical in identifying not only the current capabilities of digital systems but also the operational trade-offs involved in integrating them into NATO’s defense ecosystem. While traditional platforms still demonstrated superiority in endurance and raw firepower, autonomous systems showed promise in stealth, scalability, and data integration.

Direct support to Task Force X

The findings of the wargame will directly feed into the efforts of NATO’s Task Force X, a specialized unit focused on leveraging emerging and disruptive technologies to bolster Allied security. As hybrid threats and gray-zone operations continue to evolve, particularly in contested maritime zones like the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Arctic, the need for digital resilience and technological superiority has never been more urgent.

“The wargame was designed to measure and compare how emerging disruptive technologies perform, with findings directly supporting NATO’s Task Force X and enhancing the Alliance’s overall defensive posture.”

Task Force X is expected to incorporate the results into its roadmap for future maritime operations, particularly in areas requiring rapid response, high-level surveillance, and multi-domain coordination.

International participation reflects Strategic Unity

The inclusion of non-NATO members such as Sweden—currently in the process of integrating more deeply into NATO’s military structures—highlights the increasing importance of collaborative defense efforts in Europe.

Sweden and the Netherlands, both with significant maritime capabilities and tech-driven defense industries, contributed valuable insights during the exercise. The United Kingdom, a major NATO member with a longstanding naval tradition and cutting-edge defense innovation sector, also played a leading role.

Their participation underscores a shared commitment to digital transformation, especially at a time when undersea cables, Arctic trade routes, and strategic chokepoints like the GIUK gap (Greenland-Iceland-UK) face mounting security concerns.

Enhancing Maritime Surveillance

The Digital Ocean Vision doesn’t just involve replacing ships or aircraft with drones, it’s about integrating a vast web of sensors, platforms, and data analytics tools to create a comprehensive picture of what’s happening in and above the oceans. That includes monitoring adversarial submarine movements, illegal trafficking, unregulated fishing, and potential cyber threats to maritime infrastructure.

“NATO’s Digital Ocean Vision initiative aims to enhance NATO’s maritime situational awareness from seabed to space, by strengthening coordination between national and Allied capabilities employed for maritime surveillance. It includes a broad range of assets from satellites to autonomous systems below, on, and above the sea.”

The ultimate goal is persistent surveillance and rapid decision-making across all levels of command, backed by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and seamless data sharing across member states.

NATO’s shift toward a digitally dominant defense model

While the wargame concluded today, the work it informs will continue throughout 2025 and beyond. NATO will analyze the data gathered during the simulations to refine its strategic posture, update procurement strategies, and potentially launch new joint development projects with Allied defense industries.

The exercise marks a turning point in NATO’s shift toward a digitally dominant defense model, one that not only adapts to today’s challenges but anticipates the threats of tomorrow—from autonomous enemy swarms to satellite jamming and cyber intrusions.

Eyes in the sky🛰
Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles #UAV boost @NATO’s Task Force X with persistent aerial surveillance. They detect threats early, link air-sea awareness, and help protect ports, assets, and critical infrastructure.
More on Task Force X, a fleet of high-tech maritime… pic.twitter.com/QMZixiDEgk

— NATO ACT (@NATO_ACT) June 11, 2025

The implications of the exercise are especially significant for maritime zones that are becoming more contested due to great power competition, climate change, and geopolitical instability.

In closing, the Digital Ocean Vision wargame reaffirmed NATO’s commitment to ensuring that the world’s most powerful military alliance remains technologically agile, strategically unified, and operationally superior—across the full spectrum of maritime threats.