USV Developments Thread

[colay1]

This is intended to be a counterpart to the UAS Developments thread for all things pertaining to Unmanned Surface Vehicles tech and it's applications.

To kick things off is an account of a Protector USV hitting the bullseye on a test target with a Spike missile.

WATCH: First Spike missile launch from unmanned Israeli Navy vehicle - Israel News - Jerusalem Post

 

[colay1]

This looks to be the Golden Age of MCM warfare with the emergence of many innovative capabilities, manned and unmanned,

https://defensesystems.com/articles/2017/03/07/usvowens.aspx

Navy pursues advanced drone ship mine-hunting tech

BY KATHERINE OWENSMAR 07, 2017
The Navy is continuing to move forward with development of the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) countermine technologies as part of its overall effort to create a fleet of unmanned vehicles capable of enhanced coordination while performing a wider range of technical operations...

The UISS is made of a minesweeping unit and the Textron Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV) that tows it. As Defense Systems previously reported, the UISS locates and detonates sub-sea mines through emitting sounds and magnetic signatures that replicate those of a ship in order to set off mines programmed to detect passing ships... Textron reports that the CUSV is capable of traveling for up to 20 hours with a 4,000-pound load at speeds up to 20 knots per hour... In addition, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, the CUSV is being designed so that it can be easily transitioned between roles as a minesweeper, and a mine hunting and detonating support craft, with the ability to tow side-scan sonar, mine neutralization equipment, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology (ISR), and nonlethal weapons.

“Unlike purely remote controlled boats, these [USVs] are able to perceive their environment and plan their routes without human intervention,” Robert Brizzola, program manager, Sea Platforms and Weapons, ONR, said

 

[gf0012-aust]

this is about 4 times the size of the one I saw (which was about the size of a Mercedes C class)

http://www.militaryaerospace.com/[email protected]&eid=288406153&bid=1708634

 

[colay1]

The depths these UUVs are intended to descend to are incredible. Stupid question - do these things have pressure hulls?

 

[gf0012-aust]

The depths these UUVs are intended to descend to are incredible. Stupid question - do these things have pressure hulls?

all the deep diving ones have to, otherwise they'll get crushed pretty rapidly once they hit the threshold

 

[colay1]

Thanks. I was wondering if it was possible to harden key systems against the pressure and doing away with a pressure hull to save some weight and cost. Any cargo intended to operate at those depths would necessarily be similarly hardened.

 

[gf0012-aust]

Thanks. I was wondering if it was possible to harden key systems against the pressure and doing away with a pressure hull to save some weight.

all goes back to CONOPs in the end - so mission profiles for the USV

the majority of USV are running around in depths where crushing will only happen if they lose comms or control and head to the bottom (unless the software hits a failsafe mode and forces return to the top)

the new generation of combatant USV's will be able to reach the same depths as large subs so as to engage in a form of manouvre parity etc....

 

[cdxbow]

Biomimetic Penguin

The AquaPenguin is pretty amazing example of biomimetic propulsion https://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/9777_10388.htm#id_10388

 

[gf0012-aust]

update on snakehead Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (LDUUV)

https://news.usni.org/2017/04/04/na...230391997&mc_cid=1a991ef610&mc_eid=802226e4dd

 

[ASSAIL]

Some other interesting presentations in the video with Underwater vehicle developments from Sea Air Space 2017
What caught my attention was that Raytheon sell upgrade kits for Mk46 torpedoes to convert them to Mk 54. I wonder if the ADF is buying new torpedoes or kits

https://youtu.be/kCIIS8fCtfE

 

[gf0012-aust]

Some other interesting presentations in the video with Underwater vehicle developments from Sea Air Space 2017
What caught my attention was that Raytheon sell upgrade kits for Mk46 torpedoes to convert them to Mk 54. I wonder if the ADF is buying new torpedoes or kits

https://youtu.be/kCIIS8fCtfE

The Mk54 has also had upgrades from the Mk48 CBASS, Bl7 so its a generational improvement

 

[ASSAIL]

The Mk54 has also had upgrades from the Mk48 CBASS, Bl7 so its a generational improvement

And are those upgrades from CBASS available to all Mk54 users or are some features protected for use only by the JV partners?

 

[gf0012-aust]

And are those upgrades from CBASS available to all Mk54 users or are some features protected for use only by the JV partners?

to be honest, I have NFI

I only ever looked at the developments from an Oz/US perspective. I kind of assumed that the libraries etc were tied to the region

I would think that the software also has some common capabilities for the indian ocean

 

[gf0012-aust]

Booz Hamilton's Mantas USV

MARTAC - MANTAS Unmanned Vessel

 

[gf0012-aust]

interesting dev, one boggles at issues of scalability....

Killer Robots: Commercial Fishing ROVs Hunt For Venomous Predator Fish – gCaptain

 

[colay1]

The Navy is exploring using UUVs linked to their mother sub as remote sonar projectors to echo-locate hostile subs without giving away the location of the former.


https://news.usni.org/2017/07/18/da...e-sonar-sub-hunting-on-behalf-of-us-navy-subs

 

[gf0012-aust]

The Navy is exploring using UUVs linked to their mother sub as remote sonar projectors to echo-locate hostile subs without giving away the location of the former.


https://news.usni.org/2017/07/18/da...e-sonar-sub-hunting-on-behalf-of-us-navy-subs

that's been in existence for nearly 10 years now - the change is in tech improvements re payload and persistence

 

[colay1]

Thanks, the first time I'd heard of it.

 

[gf0012-aust]

Thanks, the first time I'd heard of it.

the USN has been interested in vessel based management of USV, UUV, swarm UROV tech for over a decade

the problems have revolved around payload, persistence, swarm comms, redundancy/fallback/retrieval, AI issues

they've come a long way in the last 10 years and I suspect that things are far further ahead than indicated based on what I dealt with many moons ago

 

[colay1]

In retrospect and AFAIK that's basically one of the capabilities of a Mk 48 ie. locate a hostile with active sonar and communicate this back via tether to it's mother ship. Though this new UUV doesn't appear to a kamikaze.