Revista Sextante

Artificial Intelligence in Maritime Surveillance: Opportunities and Challenges for Naval Security

Priya Narayanan-Brandt

Centre for Maritime Security and Intelligent Systems, Oslo, Norway

Keywords: artificial intelligence, maritime surveillance, naval security, anomaly detection, human-machine teaming

Abstract

Maritime surveillance underpins naval security by enabling the detection and understanding of activity across vast and often contested ocean areas, yet the volume and variety of sensor data now exceed what human analysts can process. This article examines the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence in maritime surveillance for naval security. Drawing on research in machine learning, anomaly detection, data fusion, human factors and security studies, it analyses data sources, detection and tracking methods, threat assessment, human-machine teaming, strategic implications and governance. The analysis indicates that AI can extend coverage, accelerate detection and reduce operator workload when it is integrated with diverse sensors, tested under realistic conditions and used as decision support under meaningful human oversight. Challenges include data scarcity, brittleness, adversarial manipulation, miscalibrated trust, legal uncertainty and ethical risk. An illustrative figure summarises expected capability profiles under conventional and AI-assisted surveillance.