Zitat:RAFAEL Unveils Protector
Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV)
for Force Protection and Homeland Defense


Haifa, June 4, 2003. RAFAEL announces a new addition to its advanced, battle-proven naval combat systems. The Protector is an integrated naval combat system, based on unmanned, autonomous, remotely-controlled surface vehicles. Highly maneuverable and stealthy, the Protector can conduct a wide spectrum of critical missions, while eliminating unnecessary risk to personnel and capital assets.

Zitat:Unbemannte Unterwasserfahrzeuge sind ein Schlüsselelement zur Wahrung der künftigen Dominanz (amerikanischer) U-Boote gegenüber jeglicher Bedrohungsart«, heißt es in einer offiziellen Stellungnahme der US-Navy. Einige dieser Fahrzeuge sind bereits im Einsatz oder nähern sich der operativen Einsatztauglichkeit. Unbemannte Unterwasserfahrzeuge werden entsprechend des englischen Begriffs Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (alternativ auch Unmanned Undersea Vehicles) als UUV bezeichnet. Selbstständig agierende UUV werden auch als Autonomous Undersea Vehicles oder AUV bezeichnet. Gegenwärtige Entwicklungsprojekte konzentrieren sich weitgehend auf UUV, die einen vorprogrammierten Auftrag ausführen. Längerfristig sollen UUV autonom agieren und im Rahmen eines Auftrages selbstständig handeln können. Langfristig sollen transozeanische UUV entwickelt werden, die von USHäfen aus tausende Kilometer unter Wasser zurücklegen können.

(17.11.2019, 16:37)Mike112 schrieb: https://esut.de/2019/11/fachbeitraege/politik-fachbeitraege/16720/pesco-nun-47-projekte/

Frankreich, Portugal, Schweden und Spanien haben sich zur Entwicklung und Konstruktion einer Unterwasserdrohne zur U-Bootbekämpfung (Maritime Unmanned AntiSubmarine System (MUSAS)) zusammengeschlossen, Federführung liegt bei Portugal.

(16.01.2021, 11:03)Mike112 schrieb: https://breakingdefense.com/2021/01/navys-unmanned-plan-inches-forward-ships-to-have-crew-quarters/?utm_campaign=Breaking%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=106521181&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_xv6ZZRJ2XOF8zjbpgJkJIcpuWiCYIiijc4zTF5kHwvonWEgwvQg8-HDk9Wv-aTu3xexN2CQrtJdEBtTwWVqCvv5xQtQ&utm_content=106521181&utm_source=hs_email&fbclid=IwAR3eBXAKysOYc965QaTeONzwtOUgn3Le-519mmxz6A19hex2_fBEwQr0LtA

Roboterschiffe im Anmarsch
Die US Navy entwickelt mit Hochdruck an unbemannten Kriegsschiffen für Spezialmissionen. Während größere Versionen für Mannschaftstransporte in Frage kommen, sollen kleinere Modelle gar keinen Menschen mehr an Bord sehen, berichtet das Fachmagazin Breaking Defense. Im US-Verteidigungshaushalt waren kürzlich für solche Projekte eigene Mittel bereitgestellt worden...

Zitat:Textron Systems' CUSV system continues to feature the maritime version of our proven, common command-and-control system — a trusted system that has successfully supported unmanned aircraft during more than one million flight hours.

Whether in a mine sweeping and neutralization role; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); harbor security; monitoring or protection, our fourth-generation CUSV is a mature, multi-mission and multi-payload capable vehicle with significant in-water experience.

You can trust our proven CUSV system to enhance maritime power, while keeping personnel out of harm’s way.

Zitat:Ghost Fleet Overlord USV participates in ‘Dawn Blitz' exercise

An experimental Ghost Fleet Overlord unmanned surface vehicle (USV) has participated in a major amphibious exercise on the US Pacific coast, having previously transited over 4,700 n miles almost entirely autonomously.

Developed under a partnership between the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the US Navy (USN) through the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), the Overlord initiative is a joint programme designed to accelerate navy efforts to develop USVs and demonstrate increasingly capable autonomous behaviours. Outputs from the programme are informing the USN’s Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle (LUSV) acquisition effort. [...] Established in 2017, the Ghost Fleet Overlord programme has seen two existing commercial fast supply vessels – Libby L McCall and Riley Claire – adapted for International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS)-compliant unmanned operations. Following two phases of testing under SCO oversight, the vessels were transferred to the navy’s Surface Development Squadron One (SURFDEVRON ONE) at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2020.

Zitat:In a possible glimpse of the future of naval warfare, an apparently new type of very small unmanned surface vessel, the ADARO, has been operating with U.S. Navy surface combatants during exercises off the coast of Southern California. The drone boat, which is reminiscent of a waterborne version of a mouse droid from Star Wars, is apparently intended, at least in part, to extend intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) coverage for the fleet when operating in regions close to the coast.

These maneuvers, which The War Zone reported on here, are known as the Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21, or UxS IBP 21, and they focus on bringing together manned and unmanned participants, including surface vessels and aircraft.

Photos released yesterday show the diminutive ADARO cutting through the waves off the bow of the newest Littoral Combat Ship USS Oakland, LCS-24, while the warship is at anchor. Another view shows the drone operating in the same U.S. Pacific Fleet exercise with the San Antonio class amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage (LPD-23) underway in the background.

Zitat:Late last month, the Nomad pulled into San Diego harbor after a 4,000-mile voyage from the Gulf of Mexico. The long, flat-bed ship was utterly nondescript — except for the fact that it had navigated nearly the entire trip on its own, without the aid of a human pilot.

The Nomad joins a growing fleet of autonomous, artificial intelligence-piloted Navy surface ships in San Diego — part of an ambitious effort to find out how the emerging technology might be used to expand the service’s reach.

The ship is the second such ship to make the trip, with human hands only taking charge when they were passing through the Panama Canal and pulling into port, according to the Pentagon. The Nomad and Ranger, which arrived in October, are part of what’s known as the “Ghost Fleet Overlord” program, which is now under the watch of the San Diego-based Surface Development Squadron One.

Two other unmanned ships — Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk, trimaran vessels with distinctive outriggers jutting out from a central hull — have been undergoing tests in San Diego.

That included a large exercise off the coast in April. The “Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21” exercise was “multi-domain manned and unmanned” with aircraft, ships and submersibles guided remotely or by AI, the Navy said.

During one event, a submarine launched an unmanned sub through its torpedo tube, Navy officials told reporters during the exercise. Aerial drones, such as the Fire Scout and Sea Guardian, also participated in the exercise. The idea, the Navy said, was to see how unmanned and autonomous systems worked in conjunction with manned Navy ships.

Officials also said that, for the first time, the Navy’s so-called “Super Swarm” drones destroyed a surface vessel, although it did not go into detail about what kind of drones were used.

But despite the wave of publicity the tests generated, Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, said at a conference in May the service is still a decade away from having autonomous ships truly operate autonomously.

“I think it’ll be some time before those unmanned platforms are truly unmanned,” Gilday said. “I would say into the 2030s, and probably for an extended period of time, they’re going to be minimally manned.”

Much of the Navy’s autonomous development program is classified. Through a spokesperson, the commander of the development squadron, Capt. Jeff Heames, declined to be interviewed for this story and the Navy declined to comment about the capabilities of its autonomous ships.

“Details of payloads and capabilities are classified,” said Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman, a Surface Forces Pacific spokesperson, in an email.

The Navy is still working to demonstrate the technology’s long-term and long-range viability. One reason for caution is the service’s troubled record with other expensive, emerging technologies, such as those in the curtailed Zumwalt class of destroyers, the troubled littoral combat ships and problems with new systems on the $13 billion aircraft carrier Gerald Ford.

The first two Zumwalt-class destroyers — Michael Monsoor and Zumwalt — have also found a home with Surface Development Squadron One. The $24.5 billion Zumwalt program, once planned for 32 ships, was capped at just three due to skyrocketing costs.

The ships were envisioned as 32 futuristic, radar-avoiding destroyers, capable of flinging rocket-powered shells from deck guns to support troops from close to shore. But the Navy’s mission changed as the War on Terror wound down and the rise of China created a new deep-water challenge. With construction cut short at three ships, the per-shell price of the ammunition for the GPS-guided Advanced Gun System rose to $800,000 per round.

Now the Zumwalts are being repurposed as ship-destroying missile carriers. The Zumwalt test-fired an SM-2 missile for the first time last fall and the Navy recently announced that the ships would be the first to field its new hypersonic missiles. The deployment of the missiles on board the Zumwalts was included in the service’s 2022 budget proposal to Congress.

The Michael Monsoor served as the command and control vessel during the recent war-game exercise near San Diego.

“The Navy needs to maintain our competitive advantage,” said Lt. Robert Reinheimer, a Navy spokesperson at the Pentagon, in an email. “We are developing and testing our unmanned systems that standardize autonomy, command and control, payload interfaces, and networks so that we reduce risk and maximize resources (and) funding.”

Zitat:Royal Navy receives final autonomous minehunting boat

he boats are capable of working in different configurations – manually, remotely or autonomously – to detect and classify mines and maritime ordnance. The Project Wilton team are currently undertaking comprehensive trials and a capability development program to ensure they are ready to deliver route survey operations.

Lieutenant Commander Ross Balfour, Officer-in-Charge of Project Wilton, said: “RNMB Hebe is the final piece in the jigsaw of Project Wilton’s maritime capability.

“The vessel is a 15-meter Vahana boat, four-metres longer than the other Project Wilton vessels. AEUK have made significant upgrades resulting in Hebe having an organic command, control and communications capability which allows the autonomous control of her sister vessel Harrier.

“She also has the ability to operate towed side-scan sonar to map the seabed.

“Hebe has fantastic potential and we are working diligently to integrate her impressive capabilities with our existing equipment.”

From the relative comfort of Hebe, mine countermeasures experts can coordinate and control the boats or monitor autonomous offboard sensors. They also have the option of controlling the vessels from a land-based remote-control centre.

The entire system is highly flexible and rapidly deployable, capable of being loaded onto trucks and transported to wherever it is required to conduct survey and mine hunting operations.