Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV), U.S. Navy

Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

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Report to Congress on Navy Large Unmanned Surface and Undersea Vehicles - USNI News

The following is the June 25, 2019 Congressional Research Service Report, Navy Large Unmanned Surface and Undersea Vehicles: Background and Issues for Congress. From the report The Navy wants to develop and procure three new types of unmanned vehicles (UVs) in FY2020 and beyond—Large Unmanned...
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The Navy wants to develop and procure three new types of unmanned vehicles (UVs) in FY2020 and beyond—Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles (LUSVs), Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicles (MUSVs), and Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (XLUUVs). The Navy is requesting $628.8 million in FY2020 research and development funding for these three UV programs and their enabling technologies.

The Navy wants to acquire these three types of UVs (which this report refers to collectively as large UVs) as part of an effort to shift the Navy to a new fleet architecture (i.e., a new combination of ships and other platforms) that is more widely distributed than the Navy’s current architecture. Compared to the current fleet architecture, this more-distributed architecture is to include proportionately fewer large surface combatants (i.e., cruisers and destroyers), proportionately more small surface combatants (i.e., frigates and Littoral Combat Ships), and the addition of significant numbers of large UVs.

The Navy wants to employ accelerated acquisition strategies for procuring these large UVs, so as to get them into service more quickly. The emphasis that the Navy placed on UV programs in its FY2020 budget submission and the Navy’s desire to employ accelerated acquisition strategies in acquiring these large UVs together can be viewed as an expression of the urgency that the Navy attaches to fielding large UVs for meeting future military challenges from countries such as China.
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The MUSV program began in FY2019. The Navy plans to award a contract for the first MUSV in FY2019 and wants to award a contract for the second MUSV in FY2023. The Navy wants MUSVs, like LUSVs, to be low-cost, high-endurance, reconfigurable ships that can accommodate various payloads. Initial payloads for MUSVs are to be intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) payloads and electronic warfare (EW) systems. The Navy defines MUSVs as having a length of between 12 meters (about 39 feet) and 50 meters (about 164 feet). The Navy wants to pursue the MUSV program as a rapid prototyping effort under what is known as Section 804 acquisition authority.
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Navy, Marines Moving Ahead with Unmanned Vessel Programs - USNI News

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy is gaining enough experience with unmanned vehicles on and below the water’s surface that it’s becoming easier to kick off new programs, as each can build on previous program’s lessons learned, service officials said last week. On larger unmanned surface vessels, the...
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Grey Havoc said:
bobbymike said:
breakingdefense.com

SASC Trims Hypersonics & Robot Ships, Boosts Ships & F-35 - Breaking Defense

Skeptical senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee want to slow down bleeding-edge prototypes, while building up more traditional weapons.
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com
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Robot Ships & Submarines

Congress and the Pentagon are deeply at odds over the future of the fleet. The Navy, backed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, sees robotic vessels as crucial adjuncts to larger manned warships, with unmanned surface and underwater vehicles (USVs and UUVs) serving as relatively expendable scouts, decoys, and missile launchers. Congress, however, remains deeply committed to traditional shipyards and President Trump’s campaign promise of 355 (manned) ships. There’s fear on Capitol Hill. that the Navy may be moving too fast towards full-up prototypes before working out technical basics, like how to keep ships running with no maintenance crew aboard and how to retain human control of lethal weapons from a long way away.

Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have passed language limiting the robo-boat programs. SASC forbids the Navy from spending 2021 appropriations on the Medium USV, Large USV, Large Displacement UUV, or Extra-Large UUV until it can show their “‘critical mission, hull, mechanical, and electrical sub-systems’’ will work well. The HASC language specifically says the LUSV must function 30 days without human maintainers; SASC sets a 45-day (1,080-hour) threshold for both LUSV and MUSV.

We haven’t seen HASC’s funding tables yet, so we don’t know if the House committee wants to cut these programs. But the Senate funding tables cut them by over $548 million (and authorizers do have the power to limit spending):

  • Prototyping for Medium and Large USVs is cut entirely, with SASC rejecting the entire $464 million request as “excess procurement ahead of satisfactory testing.”
  • Prototyping for Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles is cut nearly in half, losing $36 million out of a $78 million request, again as “excess procurement ahead of…. testing.”
  • Prototyping specifically for the XLUUV (aka the Boeing Orca) and the LDUUV (aka Snakehead) are each cut $10 million (out of an unspecified total) for having an “uncertified test strategy.”
  • Even the relatively small and modest Barracuda mine-hunting UUV prototype is cut $28 million for an unspecified “program delay.”
On the upside, SASC would add $115 million for “advanced surface machinery” to help unmanned surface vessels operate without human maintainers: $45 million for “USV autonomy” and $70 million for “engine and generator qualification testing.” That partially offsets the cuts above – but in a way that makes it very clear the Senate wants the Navy to get the basics right before putting prototypes to sea.
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news.usni.org

DARPA Testing the Limits of Unmanned Ships in New NOMARS Program - USNI News

As the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) explores designs for a ship that could operate without humans aboard, the agency is keeping the Navy involved in the effort to ensure it progresses forward should the program’s work succeed. While the Navy is creating unmanned surface...
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Grey Havoc said:
Grey Havoc said:
www.defensenews.com

Huntington Ingalls bullish on unmanned growth

America’s largest military shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries, is known for for aircraft carriers and big deck amphibious ships, but its corporate strategy is sighted in on much smaller platforms.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com
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The Navy signaled with its long-discussed Unmanned Campaign Plan last month that it wants to shift its focus from building large, expensive platforms toward meeting naval requirements with unmanned systems. However, sea power advocates in Congress were critical of the document and have been emphasizing crewed ships until the Navy successfully demonstrates the technical foundations of unmanned systems.
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The Navy, in fiscal 2021 and beyond, wants to develop and procure large, medium and extra-large unmanned vehicles. However, amid skepticism in Congress over the Navy’s ability to quickly develop new technologies, lawmakers provided $238.9 million of the $579.9 million in research and development funding the Navy requested.
Defense News previously reported that the Navy is likely to delay its Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle program by a year amid resistance from Congress. The most recent annual defense policy law barred the Navy from fielding the MK 41 Vertical Launching System on LUSVs and ordered it to explore a range of vessel types as alternatives.
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www.defensenews.com

US Navy embraces robot ships, but some unresolved issues are holding them back

The U.S. military is banking on unmanned surface and subsurface vessels to boost its capacity in the face of a tsunami of Chinese naval spending. But before it can field the systems, it must answer some basic questions.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com

The idea of an unmanned vessel tender for the medium USV, which the Navy intends to use as a far-forward distributed sensor, is likely the best solution, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a retired submarine officer.
“I think it’s likely that they’ll be heavy-lifted into the theater, not because they can’t make it themselves but because in general it would be less wear and tear on the vessels,” he said. “You want that support to be relocatable as opposed to a group of guys working out of a building ashore. The whole purpose of them is to be flexible; and because they’re small, that would, in theory, give you lots of options as to remote locations you could operate from.”
The tender could be adapted from an existing platform in the sealift fleet for now, and ultimately procured as new later, Clark said, adding that the ship would need cranes and a platform near the waterline to support the medium USV and perhaps the planned extra-large unmanned undersea vehicle as well.
Additionally, the vessels should be stationed where the Navy has long-standing relationships, like Singapore, Souda Bay, Greece, Britain and the like, as well as where they are likely to operate.
 
Yes. The entire point of the MUSV and the LUSV was that that they would be low cost, totally expendable platforms.
 
Grey Havoc said:
Yes. The entire point of the MUSV and the LUSV was that that they would be low cost, totally expendable platforms.
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Sounds like MUSV will be completely unmanned. LUSV will have at least some accommodations for crew.

LUSV is being looked at as a VLS "shooter" platform.

Congress is not comfortable with a VLS "shooter" being completely unmanned. There were security and command and control concerns.

Perhaps Congress is right. Perhaps the technology just isn't there yet to support unmanned mini-arsenal ships.

Either way, having at least some berthing with allow the Navy to move forward and provide at least some support for maintenance and security details.

The LUSV concept is really in it's infancy and having a small crew on board at least some of the time de-risks and provide a measure of flexibility to the program.
 
I think they may have only gone and doomed the programs altogether, both from a budgetary and operational point of view. Which is quite likely what cruiser advocates and their supporters in Congress were planning on. Despite the fevered imaginings of its proponents, LUSV would have never made any sort of cruiser replacement, but this development will only kill the program much faster.
 
I have found this guy to be the most knowledgeable individual about underwater craft. I am posting a link to his page. I am not advertising for him, it is just damn good information. UUVs are towards the bottom.

John
 

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