NATO is preparing to create an unmanned naval fleet to protect its infrastructure in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas.

Axar.az reports that citing DefenceNews, this was stated by the Adm. Pierre Vandier, the alliance’s Norfolk, Virginia-based commander for concepts and transformation.

Vandier said his team is in the early stages of developing a USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicle) fleet so that “NATO can see and monitor daily its environment.”

The first step would be to achieve this at a surface level, and then later under water.

The new project has already received “great support” from the central command of all NATO maritime forces, known as MARCOM, and the alliance operational headquarters of SACEUR, Vandier added.

“There is no name [for now], just USV Fleet,” Vandier told Defense News. “In fact, it already exists, so somehow it’s not very risky. The U.S. has enforced Task Force 59 in the Gulf for years, so everything is known and sold, so it is much more a matter of adoption than technology.”