USV/UUV

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.

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.

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.

The US Navy plans to deploy hundreds of ‘Blackwing’ drones on manned submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles; the new, low cost, submarine launched unmanned aircraft system is optimized for Anti-Access/Aerial Denial (A2/AD) environments.

Elbit Systems completed recently a trial test torpedo launch from its Seagull multi-mission, autonomous Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) system. Lightweight torpedoes are often used by anti-submarine vessels, helicopters, and aircraft against submarines located in shallow waters. This is the first instance where such weapons are used from unmanned platforms.

Dozens of unmanned underwater, surface and air vehicles from NATO countries have gathered in Portugal for two weeks in September, testing new technological advances in unmanned maritime systems networks. To beef up its Port defense capability the Portuguese Navy invited IAI to bring its Drone-Guard C-UAS system that provided unprecedented situational awareness and drone defeat capability during the exercise.

Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Republic confirmed today that Russia began deploying new strategic weapons that are virtually immune to enemy missile defense capabilities. These weapons include a hypersonic air-launched attack missile and ground-launched hypersonic glider, that can be used with nuclear or conventional warheads. Russian scientists have also matured a compact nuclear propulsion system that can be fitted to unmanned aerial vehicles and torpedo-like submersibles, used as cruise missiles. Nuclear powered Representing new weapon categories, both systems are not likely to be covered by the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

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.

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)

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

The US Navy has test fired the Israeli Spike Electro-Optically Guided Missile from an unmanned boat last week, on Oct. 24th, as part of an operational demonstration of the weapon conducted as part of an international agreement between Israel Ministry of Defense and the US Combating Terrorist Tactics Support Office.

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.

While the Singapore Airshow is primarily an aerospace event, amphibious capabilities are receiving high attention here, addressing growing interest in Singapore and other nations in the region to enabling their military and first responders to go anywhere, moving in water, through channels, swamps, or mud. Following are few of the new amphibious systems and capabilities that caught our attention at the airshow.

The drone attack on the Russian Navy's main Black Sea port of Sevastopol on 28 October represents a new phase in the modern drone war. According to Russian MOD, the attack involved nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven unmanned strike boats. The Russians admit damage to one of their vessels and to one of the port barriers.