(Washington, D.C.) The Navy is massively fast-tracking a new fleet of unmanned underwater vehicles to more safely perform a range of submarine-like missions to include reconnaissance, countermine operations and even undersea attack.
Alongside increasing survivability by enabling manned submarines to operate at further distances, drone submarines provide an unprecedented mix of additional attributes of great relevance to maritime warfare. A principal element of this is endurance, as unmanned sub-like drones can operate for months at a time given that they do not require crew shifts.
This advantage recently took a large step forward through an Office of Naval Research deal with General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems to provide the emerging Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (LDUUV) with advanced power for propulsion and energy storage systems.
Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (LDUUV)
The LDUUV mission, according to a 2015 study from the “International Journal of Advanced Research in Artificial Intelligence,” is to “conduct missions longer than 70-days in open ocean and littoral seas, being fully autonomous, long-endurance, land-launched with advanced sensing for littoral environments,” a paper called “Military Robotics: Latest Trends and Spatial Grasp Solutions” from the National Academy of Sciences. (Peter Simon Sapaty)
In a company statement, GA-EMS explains that the new high-tech integration is intended to improve undersea drone performance, to include extended endurance. “Over the course of the last two years, the motor has undergone lab testing, and power system has completed underwater testing. Both systems have performed successfully, demonstrating capabilities to both power and propel underwater vehicles.
Together, the systems are proving to be key technologies to provide the combined power, energy density, and improved vehicle performance necessary to help meet the objectives,” Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS, explained in a written statement.
The National Academy of Sciences’ study, among other things, points out the merits of “long-endurance” and “autonomy” associated with the LDUUV and XLUUV.
