A new stealth corvette from France

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 Super Ghost become the future Littoral Combatant?

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.

Robotic spy fish conducts underwater surveillance

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.

Submarine Launched Blackwing Drone to Enable Strikes in Denied, Contested Environment (A2AD)

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.

An Unmanned Seagull That Fires Torpedoes!

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.

SOFIC 2014 photo report: SOF Mobility

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.

Hypersonic Weapons Enter Service with Russian Aviation

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).

Counter Drone System Repels Drone Attack on a Portuguese Port at REP(MUS)19 NATO Exercise

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.

New drones demonstrate innovative maritime applications at AUVSI 2014

AUVSI 2014 Photo Report - all photos by Tamir Eshel, Defense-Update
Spike missile fired form Mini Typhoon weapon station mounted USV-PEM, during an evaluation of the missile by the US Navy last week. Photos: US Navy, Rafael

US Navy Tests Rafael Spike Missiles on Unmanned vessels

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.

LCS to get unmanned mine-sweeping boats, drones

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)

New Battelle Camera Gives Never-Before-Seen Views Undersea

A new camera developed by Battelle will greatly reduce the time, effort and expense needed to create complete 360-degree viewpoints in the depths of...

Unmanned boats demonstrate autonomous swarm, gunnery support techniques

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.
Spike LR Missile launched from a Typhoon weapon station on an Israel Navy Super Dvora Mk 2. A similar configuration was recently tested by the US Navy, from an unmanned surface vessel (USV-PEM). Photo: RAFAEL

The Sensor Becoming the Shooter

After decades of relying exclusively on laser and GPS for precision attack, the military and US special operations community is slowly opening to consider Electro-Optically (EO) guided weapons, gaining strike precision at extended range.

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