Naval Drones

www.armyrecognition.com

Singapore Navy Relies on MARSEC USVs to Ensure Surveillance of Strait

Singapore Navy Relies on MARSEC USVs to Ensure Surveillance of Strait
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Singapore_Navy_Relies_on_MARSEC_USVs_to_Ensure_Surveillance_of_Strait-8dc9d4ca.webp
 
Forest Green said:
www.navalnews.com

REPMUS 24 to Host Continued Testing of NATO ASW Barrier Concept - Naval News

The ‘REPMUS’ large-scale operational experimentation (OPEX) exercise will host again, in 2024, testing and development of NATO’s emerging ASW Barrier concept.
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www.defensenews.com

NATO taps Exail for mine-clearing underwater drones

The Dutch and Belgian navies will be the primary users of the systems, the company announced in a statement.
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Follow on UK program to that:
TinWing said:
ukdefencejournal.org.uk

Britain planning fleet of drone vessels to patrol Atlantic

Britain is planning to patrol the Atlantic using a fleet built around the new Type 92 Sloop – a drone vessel – and the Type 93, a drone submarine. This, they hope, will free up crewed warships for other missions.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk ukdefencejournal.org.uk

Say hello to the 40 meter long Type 92 sloop USV and the Type 93 UUV for ASW coverage of the GIUK gap. By the sound of things, the Type 92 sloop will be smaller than the Netherlands AAW oriented MSS. Think Damen 4008 rather than the bigger 5009. Maybe a Swath hull but I'm bettering on the black painted XV Patrick Blackett as a trials ship.

The map/info graphic depicts the deployment of 3 of 8 Type 26 frigates, 2 of 7 Astute SSNs along with 9 Type 92 sloops and a stunning 14 Type 93 UUVs.
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aonestudio said:
ukdefencejournal.org.uk

Britain developing fast attack drone boats for Ukraine

Project COOKSON will develop a small, fast, low-observability attack boat for Ukraine, capable of launching multiple precision-guided weapons, defending against air threats, and operating in GPS-denied environments.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk ukdefencejournal.org.uk
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ukdefencejournal.org.uk

UK naval combat drones undergoing testing

The Ministry of Defence has recently provided updates on three key unmanned maritime initiatives – the Wasp and Snapper systems, as well as Project COOKSON – which are being developed to support Ukrainian operations, according to a press release. In response to questions from James Cartlidge MP...
ukdefencejournal.org.uk ukdefencejournal.org.uk
 
www.navalnews.com

UK sets out Project CABOT ambition to deploy autonomous ASW screen in the North Atlantic - Naval News

The Royal Navy plans to use autonomous systems to deliver a deployable anti-submarine warfare search capability in the North Atlantic
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Details of Project CABOT were communicated to industry in an early market engagement notice published by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 13 February. According to the notice, the aim of the project – which builds on outputs from Project Charybdis and the NATO ASW Barrier SDI – is to develop and field “a portfolio of lean crewed, remote operated and uncrewed/autonomous airborne, surface and sub-surface vehicles, sensors and nodes to provide a deployable and persistent wide area ASW search capability”.
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www.navalnews.com

New Turkish USV 'LEVEND' Breaks Cover at NAVDEX 2025 - Naval News

Turkish defense company Baygalata unveiled a new unmanned surface vehicle, LEVEND, at the IDEX/NAVDEX 2025 exhibition in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
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www.navalnews.com

NAVDEX 2025: MILKOR shows new interceptor vessel for the first time - Naval News

South African company MIlkor unveiled for the first time their new 30 meters interceptor vessel at NAVDEX 2025 in Abu Dhabi.
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Saronic launching 'next-generation shipyard' to support expansion of USV offerings | InsideDefense.com

Maritime defense technology provider Saronic announced today it has closed a nearly $600 million private capital funding round, valuing the company at $4 billion and positioning it to build "a next-generation shipyard" to deliver "new classes of unmanned ships" at speed and scale.
insidedefense.com insidedefense.com
 
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Pardon the late reply.
Cordy said:
Inside Defense reported Dec 20 that Navy had completed Congress mandated unattended testing of 720 hours, 30 days, on six propulsion systems for USVs, would appear all diesels, last two reported were Caterpillar and MTU, no GTs ?
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GTs are really expensive, and don't necessarily offer a lot of advantages over a diesel if you don't need pure speed.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Pardon the late reply.

GTs are really expensive, and don't necessarily offer a lot of advantages over a diesel if you don't need pure speed.
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In fact I can’t think of a non naval GT ship: they are only useful for acceleration and top speed; otherwise a diesel beats them hands down.

ETA: in a USV application, the lower maintenance and fuel costs and the lack of need for top speed in a tactical formation (sprint/drift, etc) would clearly drive a diesel solution, IMO.
 
Josh_TN said:
In fact I can’t think of a non naval GT ship: they are only useful for acceleration and top speed; otherwise a diesel beats them hands down.
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They show up in unlimited race boats/hydroplanes, and the occasional offshore powerboat owned by someone with even more money than the usual money:brains ratio of those folks. You know, people who have a higher money:brains ratio than Jay Leno does.


Josh_TN said:
ETA: in a USV application, the lower maintenance and fuel costs and the lack of need for top speed in a tactical formation (sprint/drift, etc) would clearly drive a diesel solution, IMO.
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Agreed, I'd expect some medium-speed diesel in these, like a big Caterpillar or maybe Scania. Whatever that big Scania 700+ wheel horsepower monstrosity is.
 
Firefinder said:
A lot of passenger ships, Like the Queen Mary 2 comes to kind by recall a few others, use Gas Turbines as supplement power boosters due to their high power densities.

With them often being in the stacks ontop.
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They're also extensively used for power generation on oil & gas platforms, because they run very happily on fuel that's freely available, and which in some cases is actually a waste product.

There were a number of high-speed ferries with gas turbines, which were enormously fast and commensurately expensive to run. There's a reason they don't run any more.
 
While you'd think that USVs would be ideal for mine-sweeping since no personnel would be at risk, what about the clearance divers removing the mines? They still need a place to work from, and it's highly convenient to have them on the minesweeper.

Also note that there's an immense difference between military mine breaching and civilian demining operations.
 
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Scott Kenny said:
While you'd think that USVs would be ideal for mine-sweeping since no personnel would be at risk, what about the clearance divers removing the mines? They still need a place to work from, and it's highly convenient to have them on the minesweeper.

Also note that there's an immense difference between military mine breaching and civilian demining operations.
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You might largely replace divers with expendable or at least attritable mine neutralization drones. Putting divers in the water to go hands-on with a mine should become as rare as having terrestrial EOD techs going hands-on with an IED. I have worked with a bunch of EOD techs, and going hands-on is very much a last-resort solution. Much safer to use a robot to disrupt the device.
 
TomS said:
You might largely replace divers with expendable or at least attritable mine neutralization drones. Putting divers in the water to go hands-on with a mine should become as rare as having terrestrial EOD techs going hands-on with an IED. I have worked with a bunch of EOD techs, and going hands-on is very much a last-resort solution. Much safer to use a robot to disrupt the device.
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True, much of what I've heard of the stories of naval demining is Vietnam-era. Friend of mine was an Engineman on a Minesweeper, and his ship was involved in demining Haiphong Harbor. Which required physically removing as many mines as possible.
 
At least the destructor series was their own mine and probably readily defused by removing the TDD from the bomb body.
 
I believe the U.S. has already adopted a helicopter deployed expendable demining UAV with an explosive charge.
 
Josh_TN said:
At least the destructor series was their own mine and probably readily defused by removing the TDD from the bomb body.
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Yes, he said that most of the mines were disarmed via pulling the TDD and then pulled up from the sea bed onto the back deck of the minesweeper.

The mines that could not safely be disarmed via pulling the TDD were blown in place.
 
Josh_TN said:
I believe the U.S. has already adopted a helicopter deployed expendable demining UAV with an explosive charge.
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Yep, Airborne Mine Neutralization System has been in service for a couple of decades. It's a bit kludgy -- basically, you deploy a towed body from the helicopter, then the towed body actually deploys up to four small expendable ROVs. The expendables maneuver close to the mine-like object and fire a shaped charge to disrupt it.

www.rtx.com

AN/ASQ-235 Airborne Mine Neutralization System

The Airborne Mine Neutralization System, the U.S. Navy's standard for airborne mine clearance, neutralizes seaborne mines
www.rtx.com www.rtx.com

The next-gen system, Barracuda, is in development now. It fits inside an A-size sonobuoy envelope, making it much smaller than AMNS. Not as flexible, since it's just for shallow water mines, (AMNS can deal with deeper bottom mines, which I think Barracuda cannot) but it eliminates the need for a physical tether between aircraft, towed body, and disposal vehicle.

seapowermagazine.org

Sea-Air-Space: RTX’s Barracuda Mine Destructor in Ocean Testing - Seapower

Sea-Air-Space: RTX’s Barracuda Mine Destructor in Ocean Testing Front Page
seapowermagazine.org seapowermagazine.org

Worth noting that the Navy actually adopted a surface-launched ROV for the same purpose ages ago. The SLQ-48's Mine Neutralization Vehicle has been around since the mid-1980s, operating on a tether from the back of the Avenger and Osprey MCMVs. It was very slow, but still safer and faster than putting divers in the water. At this point, I think divers only go in if you want to recover/exploit a mine, not just clear it.

navalunderseamuseum.org

Mine Neutralization Vehicles - U. S. Naval Undersea Museum

The mine neutralization vehicle (MNV) is a type of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) used by Navy mine countermeasure (MCM) ships to locate and destroy underwater moored and bottom mines. Development of the MNV began in the mid-1970s by the Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) in San Diego. NOSC...
navalunderseamuseum.org navalunderseamuseum.org
 

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