Coastal Trident 2020

In the summer of 2020, GT2’s Center for Threat Management will conduct the thirteenth-annual Coastal Trident Port and Maritime Security Program.
Coastal Trident 2020 will be comprised of scenario-based training, field experimentation, and exercise activities and present participants with unique opportunities to examine operational and technical capabilities in port and maritime domains.

Program Background

Coastal Trident is an operational research program conducted annually to advance the state of the art in addressing threats to port and maritime security. The program is conducted in
partnership with sponsors and stakeholders in military, homeland defense, homeland security, and emergency response.
Coastal Trident is widely recognized as the largest sustained port and maritime security program in the nation and regularly involves the participation of more than 150 federal, state, local government, and private sector organizations.

Coastal Trident 2020

Coastal Trident 2020 will be conducted to examine the operational and technical capabilities of stakeholders in port and maritime security to address asymmetric threats to commerce, critical infrastructure, and national security.
This year’s program will feature alignment with several established technology and exercise initiatives, maximizing the resources available to support program activities while limiting regional “exercise fatigue” and the planning burden shouldered by participating organizations
These aligned initiatives include:

• Naval Surface Warfare Center-Port Hueneme’s Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX), which will focus on leading edge concepts for future in-service engineering and distance support to U.S. and Allied surface combatants.
• Exercise and experimentation priorities by local law enforcement and emergency response organizations (unmanned systems employment and countermeasures, maritime communications and data links, shipboard tactical operations and maritime hazardous materials response).
• Fathomwerx Laboratory’s Open House, which will focus on increasing awareness and access to port and maritime security technologies, showcase field experimentation projects, and synchronize efforts to implement technical solutions to operational gaps.

Where is Coastal Trident Conducted?

Coastal Trident is conducted at venues throughout Southern California, across an area of operations that spans more than 200 coastal miles and extends offshore clear of congested shipping lanes and recreation areas.

The Coastal Trident planning team leverages unique access to resources throughout Southern California in order to establish robust and relevant learning environments to support training, field experimentation, and exercise activities.
These resources enable the planning team to design diverse, realistic, and relevant training, experimentation, and exercise environments:

• Waterside facilities at the Ports of Hueneme, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Diego
• Land and sea test ranges at Naval Base Ventura County, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, and Naval Base Point Loma
• Offshore oil and gas platforms
• Target and support vessels representative of military, commercial, and recreational surface craft
• Manned and unmanned platforms, capable of hosting sensor systems or documenting field experimentation and exercise activities
• Opposing forces personnel, hazardous materials simulators, and threat-representative unmanned systems
• End users representing federal, state, local, and international government operational communities
• Technology base comprised of subject matter experts from the public and private sector, capable of meeting operational needs with technical solutions