Maritime defense technology: A systematic literature review of AI, autonomous systems, maritime domain awareness, and cyber resilience

Maritime defense technology has become a strategic priority as navies, coast guards, and maritime security agencies confront hybrid threats, illegal activities, contested littoral zones, cyber-physical vulnerabilities, and operational complexity of autonomous systems. This systematic literature review synthesizes peer-reviewed research on maritime defense technology, with an emphasis on maritime domain awareness, autonomous and unmanned maritime vehicles, artificial intelligence, satellite surveillance, Automatic Identification System data analytics, undersea systems, and cyber resilience. The review is structured according to the systematic review principles of PRISMA 2020 and evidence-informed management review methods. A Scopus and Web of Science search protocol was proposed using combinations of maritime defense, maritime security, naval technology, autonomous systems, AIS, satellite surveillance, unmanned surface vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles, cyber security, and artificial intelligence. The synthesis shows that the literature is concentrated around six technological clusters: data-driven maritime domain awareness, AIS-based anomaly detection and prediction, satellite, optical, and synthetic aperture radar surveillance, unmanned surface and underwater vehicles, maritime cyber security, and human-machine cooperation for autonomous maritime operations. The review finds that maritime defense technology is shifting from platform-centric capabilities toward integrated, software-defined, data-intensive, and cyber-resilient systems. However, the literature remains fragmented across engineering, transportation, computer science, safety and defence studies. Major gaps include limited operationally realistic datasets, weak integration between cyber security and autonomy research, insufficient validation in contested environments, and underdeveloped governance models for human-machine teaming. This paper proposes a future research agenda for resilient, explainable, interoperable, and ethically governed maritime defense technology.