AUV's, UUV's, USV's, ASV's, drones in general

[Jon K]

I'm creating a thread on various naval drones, since there seems not to be much about them despite drones getting more and more missions. Much of the information on drones is classified, but there are a few gems available for public:

On USN, there's The Navy Undersea Unmanned Vehicle Master Plan

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/technology/uuvmp.pdf

for nice a display of AN/WLD-1 Remote Minehunting System deployed on DDG-51 class ships on Youtube

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9IVrfyC5KA"]YouTube - Remote Minehunting System (RMS)[/ame]

One question which pops into my mind is that is there room for a manned submarine in littorals in the future, or will the submarine in littorals replaced with UUV's entirely, as the various UUV's and their acoustic modems improve?

What I'm meaning is that feasible that instead of deploying a sub into littoral
environment one would deploy a networked fleet of UUV's.

 

[gf0012-aust]

One question which pops into my mind is that is there room for a manned submarine in littorals in the future, or will the submarine in littorals replaced with UUV's entirely, as the various UUV's and their acoustic modems improve?

What I'm meaning is that feasible that instead of deploying a sub into littoral
environment one would deploy a networked fleet of UUV's.

The shift is towards companion solutions. as well as smart munitions that can hunt and kill in the littorals without bringing the larger delivery platform close in.

 

[Salty Dog]

Unmanned Naval Patrol Vehicle

PROTECTOR Unmanned Naval Patrol Vehicle

from the Rafael website: http://www.rafael.co.il/marketing/area.aspx?FolderID=258&docID=1037

Protector is an integrated naval combat system, based on unmanned, autonomous, remotely controlled surface vehicles. Highly maneuverable and stealthy, the Protector can conduct a wide spectrum of critical missions, without exposing personnel and capital assets to unnecessary risk.
The Protector's anti-terror mission module payload includes sensors and weapon systems. The search radar and the Toplite electro-optical (EO) pod enable detection, identification and targeting operations. The weapon systems are based on RAFAEL's Typhoon remote-controlled, stabilized weapon station, capable of operating various small caliber guns. The highly accurate, stabilized weapon station has excellent hit-and-kill probability.
Protector is mission reconfigurable through its plug-and-play design, allowing utilization of various mission modules:

Anti-terror Force Protection (AT/FP)
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)
Naval warfare: ASW, MIW, MCM, ASUW, EW
Maritime, Port Security

Features and Benefits:

Unmanned, highly autonomous, remote controlled
Stealthy, highly maneuverable
Reconfigurable mission modules

Some other nice info and videos:

http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/naval/protector/Protector.html

Looks like a nice platform for Port Security Operations.

 

[Jon K]

The shift is towards companion solutions. as well as smart munitions that can hunt and kill in the littorals without bringing the larger delivery platform close in.

That is what has been heard, but what about actual projects which are under development? SeaToby posted a link to Israeli Protector. General Dynamics is developing USV's for LCS:

http://www.gdrs.com/programs/program.asp?UniqueID=31

There's the FireScout, of course, as well, for airborne surveillance.

In Sweden, the Torpedo, Mina, Sensor (TMS) project developed with Finnish-Swedish co-operation was cancelled in Autumn 2007, but there's other major projects underway including development of vastly improved acoustic modems for UUV communications:

http://www.fmv.se/upload/Bilder och% 20dokument/English/Current%20information/ Publications/ProtecRewind_07.pdf

Includes also an article on Swedish SAPPHIRES UUV demonstrator

How about Royal Navy, are they developing drones or is all the money going to prestige projects?

Anyway, I think that the drone revolution has not really hit the naval scene yet. What is to be also thought out is that what's the role of small surface littoral combatant, is the small surface combatant superfluous in face of drones which can be deployed more flexibly from well-defended, large motherships? (or directly from shore in case of non-expeditionary needs)

Drones can be also flexibly used in rivers and lakes where manned surface combatants, small patrol boats notwithstanding, cannot operate.

 

[Distiller]

How does that thing behave in rough seas or icing waters?

 

[gf0012-aust]

That is what has been heard, but what about actual projects which are under development? SeaToby posted a link to Israeli Protector.

I'll qulaify my prev - i'm referring to underwater warfare technologies

 

[Jon K]

How does that thing behave in rough seas or icing waters?

In case of Lockmart's AN/WLD-1 it's a very good question, as it's run with a diesel with snorkel and seems to rely on radio aerial for communications. As from my layman's point of view the system is not only loud, but prone to difficulties in rough seas and cannot operate under ice. But on the other hand, there's mine recon drones which get around these limitations by operating with battery power and communicating via acoustic modems, such as Kongsberg HUGIN:

http://www.km.kongsberg.com/ks/web/nokbg0397.nsf/AllWeb/A6A2CC361D3B9653C1256D71003E97D5/$file/164802ab_HUGIN_1000_brochure_lr.pdf?OpenElement

In case of Protector I'm wondering about the same thing. Why is USV constructed around speedboat hull instead of, say, a pilot boat hull? A speedboat is nice for calm seas, for sure. As for limitations of ice, there's the option for basing the drone on airboat or hovercraft.

What's also interesting that the ASW in the future will be much more difficult, as the ASW needs to be not only sub-proof but also UUV/AUV proof. One cannot rely, for example, on extremely shallow seas providing protection.

 

[gf0012-aust]

One cannot rely, for example, on extremely shallow seas providing protection.

That little option started to be removed a few years back. Coastal and littoral sub warfare got a whole lot harder recently....

btw, quite a few navies use HUGIN and/or derivatives. A number of navies don't broadcast their purchases into the public domain

 

[Jon K]

That little option started to be removed a few years back. Coastal and littoral sub warfare got a whole lot harder recently....

btw, quite a few navies use HUGIN and/or derivatives. A number of navies don't broadcast their purchases into the public domain

I believe so too,

Nice public presentation on present status of US unmanned maritime vehicle systems courtesy of US Mine Warfare Association:

http://minwara.org/Meetings/2007_05/Presentations/TH0800Mine_Warfare_Tech_Conf_10_May_07_v4.1.pdf

On UK Taranis there does not seem to be much info. Is there any sign of Russian and Chinese projects?

 

[Systems Adict]

...On UK Taranis there does not seem to be much info. Is there any sign of Russian and Chinese projects?

I believe there's been some movement on Taranis....

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/304679/BAE+start+Taranis+assembly.htm


Systems Adict

 

[kato]

Quick overview of AUVs offered by German company Atlas Elektronik, formerly part of STN, now jointly owned by EADS and Thyssenkrupp:

Size comparison picture for all the below drones.

Seafox family:
Used by eight navies at the moment, seven of them ship-borne; the US Navy has seven modified helo-borne systems (Seafox C from MH53). Finland will be the ninth customer. Germany has had them in use for 5 years now. Most of these navies use Seafox C, Germany and afaik in the future Finland also use Seafox I.

Seafox C: semi-autonomous drone used to hunt mines by self-destructing next to them. the "classic" system.

Seafox I: based on Seafox C, increased sensor payload, no destruct charge. can carry a modular payload, e.g. a side-scan sonar, or a laser-based inspection system. Used to inspect littoral areas, ships, harbours, as well as for quick underwater recon especially regarding underwater explosive devices.

Seafox IQ: multi-mission AUV, in addition to the missions of Seafox I can also be used to "intercept hostile divers", as well as to support own divers in inspection and SF missions.

Seawolf family:
The Seawolf frame was originally planned to equip German next-generation minehunters (instead of the current Penguin B3 drone), which have been cancelled. The drone development has been continued though. As the Finnish next-generation minehunters currently under construction have been developed using the same "framework" (MJ2000), there's some possibility for sale there, or other exports.

Seawolf: bigger, badder version of Seafox C, used to find and destroy buried mines; unlike Seafox C uses separate dropping charges instead of self-destructing (note: Penguin B3 uses the same routine).

Seawolf A: Inspection version of the Seawolf drone frame. effectively replaces the 30-kg destruct charge with a sensor payload.

SeaOtter family:
Used commercially (by DeBeers) and MkII is currently being tested under military aspects for the Bundeswehr. SeaOtter has a maximum diving depth of 600m in the "standard variant", MkIID supposedly goes quite a bit beyond that.

SeaOtter MkI: Heavy-payload harbour inspection drone.

SeaOtter MkII: strict military version; modular payload for recon/surveillance, minehunting, mine destruction. payload classified, presumably around 100 kg.

SeaOtter MkIID: "ultradeep-diving" version of MkII. fully classified, info from the company on request only.

 

[Jon K]

I believe there's been some movement on Taranis....

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/304679/BAE+start+Taranis+assembly.htm


Systems Adict

Ah, made a mistake in name, I meant Talisman AUV, not Taranis...

 

[Jon K]

The Seawolf frame was originally planned to equip German next-generation minehunters (instead of the current Penguin B3 drone), which have been cancelled. The drone development has been continued though. As the Finnish next-generation minehunters currently under construction have been developed using the same "framework" (MJ2000), there's some possibility for sale there, or other exports.

Finnish MCMV will use Hugin mine reconnaissance AUV, Seafox-something and Saab DoubleEagle ROV.

On Norwegian Hugin there's a good information page on FFI's (Norwegian Defense Research Agency) website including a load of very informative articles. The illustrations on capabilities of modern Synthetic Aperture Sonar are impressing, they have resolution of some 2cm.

http://www.mil.no/felles/ffi/hugin/start/;jsessionid=ELTSPMGHKFYIRQFIZYGSFEQ?_requestid=1657176

Hugin is also used for commercial purposes, as in Norway there's huge need for commercial unmanned underwater vehicles.

Here's the site on REMUS, military-commercial AUV developed by Woods Hole Oceanographic institute and widely used by US military.

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=10079