USV/UUV

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.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have added a batch of new ‘loitering torpedoes’ developed by Iran’s defense industries. The new weapons were unveiled yesterday during a ceremony at Bandar Abas naval base, a large naval base located at the straits of Hormoz. The new weapon that seems to be a hybrid of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) and a guided torpedo, enables the guards to direct covert attacks at enemy naval bases, ships, and offshore facilities.

Today, the Middle East's International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2022 began. It is the region’s largest maritime exercise and the world's largest unmanned exercise with more than 80 unmanned systems from ten nations participating.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Elbit Systems has developed an unmanned anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and mine countermeasure (MCM) vessels that enable navies to detect and defeat enemy submarines and neutralize sea mines in a safer, more efficient and affordable way. At the DSEI exhibition this week the company has demonstrated how the unmanned Seagull boats can autonomously perform anti-submarine operations over a distance of 1,890 nautical miles, with the mission controlled over a satellite link from the company's exhibit at DSEI in London.

Elbit Systems has added an Unmanned Aerial System capability to the Seagull Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV), broadening surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities of the unmanned boat. Trials conducted in recent weeks were dedicated to the integration of Elbit Systems' Skylark C mini-Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), onboard the Seagull USV, further enhancing its intelligence-gathering capabilities.

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.

General Motors, the Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory announced Thursday, June 23, 2016; they are cooperating to incorporate automotive hydrogen fuel cell systems into a next-generation of Navy unmanned undersea vehicles, or UUVs.

Almost 50 unmanned systems from the UK, USA, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, and Austria participated in a month-long war game for robots, organized by the Royal Navy. Spanning air, surface and the undersea domain, ‘Unmanned Warrior 2016’ (UW16), has been in the making for almost two years, with dozens of players from different nations invited to take part in this unique operational demonstration, held as part of NATO’s Joint Warrior 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).

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.