USV/UUV

Elbit Systems today unveiled its latest unmanned system – the Seagull autonomous, modular, multi-mission Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV). The vessels are designed primarily for Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and Mine-Countermeasures (MCM) operations.

The US Navy is testing a fish like robot designed to carry out stealthy, silent and secure underwater surveillance missions - from intelligence gathering to hull inspections, where its silent operation and mission endurance would provide great advantages to sailors and marines.

Cherbourg based CMN (Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie) has unveiled the C Sword 90 stealthy corvette at the Euronaval naval expo in Paris this week. The stealth vessel is one of three new ship designs the company is launching, all positioned to address the growing needs of world navies to support increasingly demanding missions encountered at the high sea and littoral waters.

The US Navy contracts Textron Systems to deliver Common Unmanned Surface Vessel (CUSV) for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UAISS) - a Mine CounterMeasure (MCM) system to be deployed by unmanned boats on the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)

The US Navy is evaluating a technology controlling swarms of unmanned boats with high level of autonomy. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has tested an applique kit that will allow any unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to not only protect Navy ships, but also, for the first time, autonomously “swarm” offensively on hostile vessels.

Could a stealthy, fast going corvette-sized 'super Ghost' vessel take on the US Navy Littoral Combat Ship and win? The people at Portsmouth' Juliet Marine Systems believe it can. They are proposing that, at a cost of a single LCS, the navy take six of Ghosts which will be able to assume many of the LCS' littoral operations either independently, or operating with oceangoing naval vessels as motherships, providing a more affordable, agile and survivable naval strike force.

This photo reports highlights mobility systems for special operations forces, seen at the recent SOFIC 2014 exhibition. The report reviews a number of all terrain vehicles, remotely operated systems for land, and underwater operations, diver propulsion systems and motion augmenting devices, positioned for the future TALOS special operations warfighter suite.

AUVSI 2014 Photo Report - all photos by Tamir Eshel, Defense-Update

In three years the US Navy could have a prototype of an autonomous anti-submarine warfare vessel that will be able to detect, track and shadow any type of submarine, including ultra-quiet diesel-electric subs, turning these undersea beast from predators into targets.

In order to successfully operate maritime platforms, trained crews and their commanding officers are required to possess a range of technological capacities on top of their personal ones as fighters and sailors. Are the same professional skills relevant also for operation of USVs? As systems become more autonomous, human operators with different skills and different types of training will be required.