NAVAL DRONES

In a piece in mid-December, our partner site NavalDrones detailed  the U.S. Navy’s solicitation for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that incorporates Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) sensors. As the article notes, this capability is useful for finding submarines as it “detects changes in the earth’s magnetic field caused by a large metal object” such as yon u-boat. What is perhaps most interesting about the solicitation is that it calls for the UAVs to be expendable and launched from a P-8A Poseidon. The concept of aerial motherhips is by no means new – one only need look back to the glory days of zepplins with biplane detachments, or to the helicarrier in the recent movie The Avengers  to get a sense of the breadth of idea. And the solicitation for the Poseidon doesn’t mark the first go at aircraft-launched UAVs: In 2009, an expendable sonobuoy tube-launched UAV called Coyote was tested out a NOAA’s WP-3D Orion under an Office o...

What was the most significant development in unmanned naval systems for 2013?  Blog readers weighed in on this question and more during our survey. Winning by a landslide, with 71% of the responses, was the successful carrier catapult shots and "traps" (arrested landings) of Northrop Grumman's X-47B. ALANTIC OCEAN (Nov. 9, 2013) The experimental X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) conducts an arrested landing aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Theodore Roosevelt is the third carrier to test the tailless, unmanned autonomous air craft's ability to integrate with carrier environment. (US Navy photo By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony N. Hilkowski/Released) In a distant second, with 19% of the vote, was the proliferation of sea-going rotary wing UAVs. The number of helicopter drones, like this Spanish Skeldar, grew throughout the world's fleets in 2013. Related to #1, the U.S. Navy's ev...

No, despite hype to the contrary, drones aren't getting angry and taking over the world.  But if the U.S. Navy gets its way, a new generation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles might be getting Magnetic Anomaly Detectors, or MAD.  The Navy has issued two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitations related to the incorporation of MAD sensors in UAVs. A MAD is a device normally found on anti-submarine warfare aircraft that detects changes in the earth's magnetic field caused by a large metal object (i.e., a submarine). MAD sensors can be found in the tail of the P3 or towed behind an aircraft, in the case of the Navy's SH-60B helicopters, and are used in the final stages of target prosecution to pinpoint the submarine before weapons release. Business end of a P-3 Orion sub-hunter showing the MAD boom.  The first SBIR solicitation is entitled "Low Magnetic Signature Expendable Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)" and...

Last week, the U.S. Navy announced the launch of a fuel-cell powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, the XFC , from a submerged nuclear submarine. Interestingly, XFC is at least the fourth sub-launched UAS the Navy has demonstrated.  Previous efforts date back to 2005 and include the hand-launched  Dragon Eye and FQM-151 and the sail-launched  Buster .  More recently, the Navy first successfully launched a Switchblade  from a submerged submarine in Exercise Trident Warrior 2010 using a successor to  Raytheon's Submarine Over the Horizon Organic Capabilities, or SOTHOC  launch system. Other efforts weren't so successful.  The German company Gabler designed the VOLANS (coVert OpticaL Airborne reconnaissance Naval adapted System), a mast-launcher concept which was not constructed. Even more interesting is Lockheed Skunkwork's ridiculously ambitious Cormorant UAV, which apparently never made it past the YouTube stage of dev...

Earlier this week, guest blogger Mark Tempest posted some interesting ideas on low cost alternatives to traditional combatants which could be configured to carry unmanned surface vehicles, playing on the idea that payload truly is more important than platform.  These concepts are unorthodox, though as Mark points out, not unprecedented.  In a time of shrinking budgets and smaller fleets, the navy should explore how to optimize various combinations of ships and the unmanned vehicles they will carry, with an eye towards both effectiveness and efficiency.  Mine counter-measures is an important, though often short-changed mission, with various trade-offs between payload and platform. Between the Littoral Combat Ship "seaframe" and mission modules, the U.S. Navy has invested billions of dollars in R&D and acquisition money to develop (though still not fully) the capability to conduct off-board, unmanned mine counter-measures.  LCS will carr...

If the answer to the Navy’s future is robotics, then Admiral Greenert’s July 2012 U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings piece, “ Payloads Over Platforms, Charting a New Course ” opens up a whole new world of possibilities for using existing small ship platforms as “trucks” to deliver large numbers of modern weapons platforms to areas of interest. As former Under Secretary of the Navy Bob Work emphasized during his recent appearance on MIDRATS ,  the Littoral Combat Ship is such a truck–a vehicle for delivering unmanned weapons system. This post is meant to take that concept and cheapen it. What is a corvette? Something smaller than frigate but larger than a patrol boat, I guess. The LCS in either of its variants is large at about 380 feet in length and displacing 2800 tons. A Gearing-class destroyer from post WWII measured in 390 feet and 3400 tons.  The Perry-class frigates are over 440 feet and 4100 tons. Seems we have a lot of size and space to play with. It occurs t...

What are the latest trends in unmanned systems?  What technologies show the most promise to enhance future naval operations?  Readers of this site represent naval and industry professionals, academics, and other interested parties from more than 160 countries. We're offering an anonymous survey to understand this wealth of knowledge contained in our readers' insights and experience.  The results will be discussed in future posts in this space.  Please take a few minutes to respond to the 8 easy questions. Link for mobile sites: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RT5YKFB *Note - you will not be emailed, phoned, nor otherwise accosted for responding.