US Navy to Deploy Robot Ships to Track Chinese and Russian Subs

[F-22Raptor]

Work on the U.S. Navy’s new anti-submarine drone is progressing and that’s bad news for diesel-electric subs.

Diesel-electric submarines are cheaper and quieter than their nuclear counterparts and they are rapidly being procured by states opposed to the national interests of the United States.

While not capable of traveling long distances or at great speed, diesel-electric submarines have the potential to deny the U.S. Navy access to strategic coastal areas and could also interrupt seaborne commerce. Equipped with air-independent propulsion systems and advanced lithium-ion batteries, the next generation of diesel-electric boats will even be harder to track down and destroy in the event of a naval conflict.

“Picking up the quiet hum of a battery-powered, diesel-electric submarine in busy coastal waters is like trying to identify the sound of a single car engine in the din of a major city,” Rear Admiral Frank Drennan, commander of the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command, emphasized in March 2015.

Consequently, the United States military has been exploring options for some time now how to best counter this emerging asymmetrical threat.

Back in 2010, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency responsible for developing emerging technologies for the military’s use, initiated a research project to develop an anti-submarine drone — a robot ship capable of tracking enemy subs in shallow waters.

The prototype of the U.S. Navy’s robot ship, the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), is designed to operate autonomously for 60 to 90 days straight, surveil large stretches of ocean territory and — should an enemy sub be spotted — guide other U.S. naval assets to the vessel’s location to destroy it (the ACTUV itself is unarmed). The ACTUV prototype, named Sea Hunter, will be ready for extensive sea-trials in the fall of 2015, according to Defense One.

DARPA’s website outlines that the ACTUV’s “objective is to generate a vessel design that exceeds state-of-the art platform performance to provide propulsive overmatch against diesel electric submarines at a fraction of their size and cost.”

Furthermore, the ACTUV program is trying to fulfill the following requirements:
Advance unmanned maritime system autonomy to enable independently deploying systems capable of missions spanning thousands of kilometers of range and months of endurance under a sparse remote supervisory control model. This includes autonomous compliance with maritime laws and conventions for safe navigation, autonomous system management for operational reliability, and autonomous interactions with an intelligent adversary.

Autonomous compliance with maritime laws requires the correct identification of surface ships and other objects while at sea. DARPA is in the process of developing non-conventional sensor technologies for that purpose and issued a Request for Information (RFI) back in March 2015.

DARPA program manager Ellison Urban, quoted by Defense One, explains the rationale behind the U.S. Navy’s push for robot ships:
Instead of chasing down these submarines and trying to keep track of them with expensive nuclear powered-submarines, which is the way we do it now, we want to try and build this at significantly reduced cost. It will be able to transit by itself across thousands of kilometers of ocean and it can deploy for months at a time. It can go out, find a diesel-electric submarine, and just ping on it.

US Navy to Deploy Robot Ships to Track Chinese and Russian Subs | The Diplomat

 

[AMDR]

Instead of chasing down these submarines and trying to keep track of them with expensive nuclear powered-submarines, which is the way we do it now, we want to try and build this at significantly reduced cost.

Smart. This will free up some our already large sub force to focus on anti-surface and intelligence operations.

It will also be interesting to see if they pursue sub-launched anti-submarine unmanned systems for the fast attack subs like this

Of course this module is for the larger cells of the Ohio-class, but its not unreasonable to think that this concept could be adapted for the VPM of a Virginia-class submarine in the near future.

Unmanned vehicles are becoming very prolific very fast in all domains. If want to stay on top, we have to stay at the forefront of all types of unmanned systems.

 

[kaonalpha]

Good once the Chinese capture it. We'll buy cheap copies .

 

[KAL-EL]

Good once the Chinese capture it. We'll buy cheap copies .

Excellent cheerleading!

 

[Menace2Society]

Unmanned surveillance boat? F**king genius.

 

[ANMDT]

As i have read in a journal , its not aimed only for shallow waters ,but also DARPA focues on a unmanned vehicle ,which is able to detect and track a hostile submarine in longterm , in its tail.

 

[AMDR]

Figured this belonged here

DARPA seeks test-ready, multi-sensor approaches for ACTUV programme
DARPA seeks test-ready, multi-sensor approaches for ACTUV programme - Naval Technology


The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has issued a request for information (RFI) for new technologies that will help augment the sensing and classifying capabilities of its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) continuous trail unmanned vessel (ACTUV).

The RFI aims to look for sensor systems and image-processing hardware and software that could help ACTUV and other unmanned surface vessels to detect nearby ships and other objects, and decrease dependence on radar as primary sensor.

DARPA programme manager Scott Littlefield said: "We're looking for test-ready, multi-sensor approaches that push the boundaries of today's automated sensing systems for unmanned surface vessels.

"Enhancing the ability of these kinds of vessels to sense their environment in all weather and traffic conditions, day or night, would significantly advance our ability to conduct a range of military missions."

The RFI has sought information with focus on three technical areas including maritime perception sensors, maritime perception software and classification software for day shapes / navigation lights.

The maritime perception sensors are a combination of non-radar-based imaging and tracking methods including passive and active imagers in the visible and infrared wavelengths and class one laser rangefinder (LRF) and flash light detection and ranging (LIDAR).

The systems should be capable of helping to detect ships even in conditions such as haze, fog and rain over ranges between 4km and 15km.

The maritime perception software will involve developing algorithms and software to enable passive optical or non-radar active imagers to track and classify ships.

"We're looking for test-ready, multi-sensor approaches that push the boundaries of today's automated sensing systems for unmanned surface vessels."

DARPA is also seeking algorithms and software to support detection, tracking and classification of day shapes and navigation lights using passive optical or non-radar active imagers.

The ACTUV programme seeks to curb emerging national security threats affecting the US and friendly naval operations worldwide, amidst increasing numbers of silent diesel electric submarines being built and operated by enemy nations.

The programme aims to leverage technology to perform stealth anti-submarine missions, while reducing work force and other related costs.

The initial water-borne testing of an ACTUV prototype is scheduled to take place later this year.

In 2018, the ACTUV programme is expected to be transitioned to the US Navy for use in anti-submarine warfare.