US Navy foresees an uncrewed future for its surface and underwater fleet
The service has been conducting various procurement and development efforts to integrate unmanned surface and underwater vehicles into its inventory.
ASV Global will lead the Windfarm Autonomous Ship Project that aims to develop a timeline for the phased introduction of autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) to support offshore wind farm operations and maintenance.
The 18-month joint industry project intends to explore the technical, regulatory and societal issues of using ASVs integrated with existing manned shipping operations, to support offshore wind farm operations.
The project will see ASV Global work in partnership with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, SeaRoc Group, Houlder and the University of Portsmouth to verify the benefits and build the case for the use of ASVs.
As part of the project, ASV Global will be further advancing its autonomous control system to handle the challenges presented by the operation of AUVs in the constrained environment of a windfarm. ORE Catapult will work on the use cases and validation of the cost savings created by the project.
SeaRoc Group will be extending its SeaPlanner software to assist with the monitoring and operation of autonomous vehicles and the introduction of advanced cargo planning systems. The University of Portsmouth will assist with efficient route planning, logistics management and system analytics. Houlder will develop the vessel design and an innovative handling system to enable autonomous cargo transfer.
The team will work with Ørsted, who will provide use cases from its Hornsea One offshore wind farm, located 120km off the Yorkshire coast. Manned operations will be used as the baseline to compare the time, cost and performance of unmanned ships in different roles, including asset surveillance, security patrols, component spares supply and crew transfer operations.
New products will come from adaptation of marine co-ordinator systems to operate with both manned and unmanned vessels, optimised navigation systems from autonomous vessels and robotic systems to support offshore operations.
The service has been conducting various procurement and development efforts to integrate unmanned surface and underwater vehicles into its inventory.
Tekever has manufactured the AR3, AR4 and AR5 UAS with all systems sharing common electronics and software architecture, which has enabled the reuse of ground segment elements within the new ARX UAS.
As the dynamics of aerial combat rapidly evolve, Chinese scientists have engineered a sophisticated air separation drone model that can fragment into up to six drones, each capable of executing distinct battlefield roles and challenging the efficacy of current anti-drone defences such as the UK’s Dragonfire laser system.
Advancements in air defence technologies have begun to reshape aerial combat dynamics in the Middle East, as illustrated by recent events involving the Israeli Air Force and Hezbollah.
Both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war have been using UAS for effective low-cost attacks, as well as impactful web and social media footage. Thousands more have now been committed to Ukrainian forces.
The US Army has intentions to develop light, medium and heavy variants of the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) as part of the branche’s Next Generation Combat Vehicle family.