NAVAL DRONES

Classifying unmanned maritime systems by their operating domain: air, surface, or underwater - is both convenient and intuitive. But recently, navy and industry researchers have begun to explore the advantages of platforms that can operate in two domains, muddying the nomenclature.  In the past year, several prototype multi-domain unmanned vehicles have been introduced.   CRACUNS The most popular combination of these hybrid drones is the air/sub-surface mixture - UAVs that float or swim.  Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland introduced t he Corrosion Resistant Aerial Covert Unmanned Nautical System ( CRACUNS ), a submersible UAV designed to operate in the littorals which can be launched from a fixed position underwater or from an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV). Rutger University's entry into the fray of flying/swimming drones is the Naviator , which can actually maneuver (sort of) underwater before surfacing and taking off....

by Morgan Stritzinger, Public Relations Specialist, Textron Systems, mstritzi(at)textronsystems.com The collaboration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) extends relative reach, and therefore the operational footprint. The unmanned aircraft and USV work together to extend data link ranges, and the USV can carry, deploy and recover the UUV, thereby extending its range and providing a safer environment for the host vessel. Extending mission capabilities is critical to efficient and effective maritime missions, creating situational awareness that delivers actionable data and value. Unmanned systems are best suited for tasks too “dull, dirty or dangerous” for their manned counterparts and are a pertinent complementary system to manned asset efforts. This includes repetitive tasks that are more costly for humans to perform or represent opportunity for human error, situations in extreme weather and environmental co...

Navy Minesweeping Boats (MSBs) cleared mines and fought their way through Vietnamese waters. Sea mines are simple, affordable, and prolific, yet one of the most lethal weapons of naval warfare in the past 50 years.  Countering this threat remains a significant challenge for even the most advanced navies. The eleven remaining Avenger class Mine Counter Measures ships in the U.S. Navy's fleet are divided between two forward deployed home ports, Bahrain, and Sasebo, Japan.  These single purpose ships will be gradually phased out in favor of new unmanned, off-board mine clearance technology embarked on a variety of platforms, such as the Littoral Combat Ship.   The Navy is also planning for smaller craft, such as the MK VI patrol boat to carry Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) for mine clearance.  During the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Navy utilized small UUVs launched from the shore and inflatable zodiacs to find mines in Iraq's rivers. More rec...

Guest post by Terry Miller, Capt, USN Retired and John Rapp. A covert, in-mission, full kill chain, integrated, Mine Warfare Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is described. It will significantly compress the kill chain beyond today’s overt detect to engage methods. It also eliminates or reduces costs associated with today’s multi-system approach. Over time, the MCM practice will inevitably evolve from overt to covert: this natural transition is discussed. The Navy asserts that time line improvements are urgently needed, but equally important is improved affordability. Cost savings for the integrated AUV are expected to be less than $5K per mine kill. The paper describes sign ificant potential to reduce system costs using an integrated AUV solution instead of the multi-system approach of RMMV, AQS-20 and Archerfish. S uch an AUV includes the vehicle itself, with its associated power and propulsion and maneuvering systems, autonomous embedded intelligence, navigation system, so...

By now, most readers are familiar with the U.S. Navy's new swarming drone experiment using the  CARACaS (Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing)   system for automating small surface craft. The hype surrounding this development is significant, and some of it is rightfully deserved. Automated boats will find a place in future naval operations, but their capabilities and limitations must be more fully understood before that happens.  August 2014 - A swarm of CARACaS equipped patrol boats on the James River - U.S. Navy image. Capabilities The primary b enefits of autonomous unmanned vessels are longer endurance than manned patrol boats, and of course, a reduction in risk to human sailors.  Naval budgeteers consistently lament the cost of personnel, so o stensibly, automated boats will be less expensive than training and maintaining human crews.  On the other hand, the Navy's force protection boat crews, most of them resident in the...

Bio-inspired maritime robotics is an emerging field gaining significant traction. Two examples the U.S. Navy has funded include  Boston Engineering's Bioswimmer,  and the odd robotic jellyfish,  Cyro .  Both of these projects look clumsy compared to a robotic fish recently developed by a consortium of Polish researchers from the Technical University of Krakow, the marine technology firm  FORKOS, and the Polish Naval Academy.  The group's CyberRyba ("Cyber-fish") autonomous underwater vehicle can move along a preset route, but will eventually be able to autonomously  avoid obstacles and log data from a  sonar or video camera. The carp-like CyberRyba's uncanny realistic movement is aided by an articulating body and tail as well as independently moving pectoral fins allowing it to hover in place. The ultimate goal of the research is to support the European Defence Agency's "Swarm of Biomimetic Underwater Vehicles for Underwater ISR" (SABUVIS) pr...

Bio-inspired robotics research continues to pave the way for future military applications.  In 2012, researchers proved that Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), could perform simple swarming functions.   This blog discussed that technology and its implications for naval use in a post here . CoCoRo   (Collective Cognitive Robots) is a consortium of European universities led by the Artificial Life AL at the Department of Zoology at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz engaged in developing autonomous swarms of underwater vehicles to monitor, search, and explore the underwater realm.   The "Jeff" AUV production line. As seen in the above video, their AUVs demonstrate novel underwater communications methods and simple swarming behavior.  CoCoRo is currently building 20 copies of its newer AUV, "Jeff," which can maneuver rapidly underwater and dock to a floating surface station for battery recharging and da...

The market for unmanned naval systems is growing by leaps and bounds.  Between air, surface, and subsurface platforms, a variety of companies big and small are competing for contracts to meet the demand of navies across the globe.  To provide some perspective on this market, NavalDrones has analyzed the performance of a theoretical portfolio of 12 publically-traded stocks  during 2012.  These stocks range from well-entrenched defense giants like Lockheed Martin( LMT ) and Boeing( BA ) to mid-sized companies producing sensors and other components for naval drones  including Griffon ( GFF ) and Cubic ( CUB ).  With $1,000 invested equally in each of the stocks at the beginning of 2012, the portfolio's initial investment of $12,000 would have been valued at $13,196.12 at the market's close on December 31, for a total return (inclusive of dividends) of 9.97%.  In comparison wit...

Lockheed Martin's troubled  AN/WLD-1 Remote Minehunting System is the key component of the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship Mine Counter-measures Mission Package (MCM MP) and   has been under development for nearly two decades.   The heart of the system is a diesel-powered, semi-submersible Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV)  designed to tow a variable depth mine-hunting sonar.  AN/WLD-1 aboard USS Freedom (LCS-2) Testing on RMS prototypes began in 1994, but the system has yet to mature to full operational status.  In an effort to work some of the kinks out of RMS, the Navy's Program Executive Officer for Littoral Combat Ships (PEO LCS)  has sought the assistance of industry via the most recent Small Business Innovation Research ( SBIR ) program solicitation.     A solicitation released by the Remote Minehunting System Program Office (PMS 403) entitled " Anticorrosion Solution for Re...