by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The US Navy will be testing a cutting edge-submarine launched drone system engineered to release from beneath the surface of the ocean to perform forward, wide-area reconnaissance and targeting.
The small unmanned system is engineered to survive a transit through the water column up to the surface and into the air to provide continuous connectivity for submarine commanders interested in surveilling the threat environment, identifying targets and sustaining connectivity with surface ships, drones and aircraft. A 2023 Navy essay from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center describes the Submarine Launched Unmanned Aerial System (SLUAS) as a four-pound, 19-inch drone sensor launched from undersea in a canister through a three-inch signal ejector. The upcoming assessment, which is designed to further refine tactics, technologies, requirements and Concepts of Operation, is being led by the Naval Information Warfare Center – Pacific. The Navy will work closely with its industry partners to explore the realm of the possible with SLUAS and identify new tactics and possibilities for continued upgrades.
The tactical impact is quite significant, as it enables submarines to operate with a much wider command and control envelope by using RF data-link transmissions able to reach submarine crews operating just beneath the surface of the ocean.
“The high-level purpose of the program is really to bring that extension of onboard sensors into the submarine….Specifically with this program, it was looking at bringing a visual sensor onboard. The strength of the submarines is really in our sonar, our electronic warfare, but we can’t typically see a lot. We really only have the periscope and that’s about it.,” Greg Walsh, a technical project manager for the SLUAS program in Division Newport’s Undersea Warfare Combat Systems Department said in the Oct 2023 Navy essay.
The tactical implications associated with SLUAS are quite significant, as they are expected to drive new Concepts of Operation, something the upcoming assessment off the Coast of California will soon assess. For several years, the Navy and SLUAS maker Elbit America and its subsidiary Sparton have been building new software and refining the technology to engineer a multi-domain undersea-surface-air network of “meshed” nodes able to gather and transmit time sensitive data under the surface of the ocean, somewhere it has historically been unable to accomplish. The SLUAS system, while comprised in part of AeroVironment’s Blackwing drone Switchblade derivative, is made by Elbit America.
With SLUAS operational, a submarine would have an aerial targeting node to complement its undersea sonar, and be positioned to “see” or “target” an otherwise undetectable enemy surface ship at a stand-off distance
This kind of progress aligns closely and fits within the Navy’s broader “Project Overmatch” effort to enable a seamless, integrated multi-domain air-sea-surface-undersea able to transmit target detail, sensor information and command and control across an entire maritime combat operation in real-time. Among other things, Project Overmatch is designed to massively shorten “sensor-to-shooter” times, increase lethality and expedite rapid attack with faster command and control and information processing. One possibility now being explored is the idea of enabling a submarine to launch a SLUAS drone and re-submerge while the drone performs its surveillance mission before linking-up with the boat at a predetermined time and place where the submarine can resurface its antenna.
At the moment, a submarine needs to be “near” the surface with an emerging “antenna” to maintain persistent connectivity, yet Elbit America and Sparton are collaborating with Navy researchers to enable a new generation of real-time undersea air-to-undersea data transmission. While technologically difficult, in large measure due to challenged data-transmission rates, there are signs of progress and promise that new innovations may accelerate this possibility.
One prospect now under consideration and under development by Elbit America and Spartan is to engineer an RF-to-Acoustic “interface” at the surface of the ocean to enable RF signals to transition to sonar so that undersea acoustic signals can relay data from aerial drones to areas fully below the surface at greater depth. Naturally this increases survivability as a submerged submarine without needing to approach the surface with an antenna can operate from a stealthier, more “clandestine” and tactically advantageous position.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
