Darpa News

DARPA’s NOMARS program aims to revolutionize naval operations by designing a ship that can operate autonomously for extended periods at sea without an onboard crew.One project at the forefront of maritime innovation is the development of a vessel called “Defiant,” a project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Defiant is referred to as a NOMARS vessel – “No Manning Required Ship.”The project’s been underway at least since January 2020, when DARPA held a “proposers day…

Freeland, Wash. shipbuilder Nichols Brothers Boat Builders (NBBB) announced it has been awarded a contract to construct an uncrewed autonomous vessel for the U.S. Department of Defense's research and development agency.The No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) project was awarded by Serco North America, the prime contractor and designer of the vessel, for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).The program aims to revolutionize naval operations by designing a ship that…

The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)  awarded Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada-based Glas Ocean Electric a contract to develop and demonstrate a low-cost data acquisition system that can be easily installed on a range of vessels including fishing vessels, workboats, ferries and pleasure craft.Glas Ocean Electric’s PerforMarine is a platform that collects vessel and environmental data and then, using artificial intelligence, helps operators optimize vessel performance…

Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. announce it is providing a customized thruster propulsion system to SERCO, Inc. in support of its recently awarded No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The advanced platform design has been developed by SERCO to meet the performance requirements established by DARPA to demonstrate true unmanned operations for extended time periods.Joe Bekker, president of Thrustmaster of Texas, said,…

The U.S. Department of Defense's research and development agency is moving into the second phase of a project to to build and demonstrate a new seagoing unmanned surface vessel.The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on Monday announced  it is moving into Phase 2 of the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, which seeks to build and demonstrate a revolutionary new medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) that can go to sea and perform missions with unprecedented reliability and availability, while carrying a significant payload.

Charles River Analytics won a $1.5 million follow-on contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a multi-sensor fusion module that incorporates deep learning to autonomously and accurately detect whales and other aquatic mammals.To protect marine mammals from collisions and sonar exposure, sailors must keep a vigilant lookout. Operators of remotely operated vehicles must also stay alert, and uncrewed surface vehicles’ (USVs) currently limited and narrow video feeds create risk, too.

In 1985, Chris Deegan was hired out of Penn State as a nuclear submarine cost estimator by the Naval Sea Systems Command and retired nearly 28 years later as the Executive Director of PEO Integrated Warfare Systems, with the last 10 as a member of the Senior Executive Service. He’s been with Gibbs & Cox since 2013, first as the Vice President of Engineering, and as President and Chief Executive since 2016.Please give a “by the numbers” look at Gibbs & Cox today.Since our founding in 1929…

Naval architecture firm Gibbs & Cox said it has been awarded a multi-phase contract from the U.S.' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and demonstrate a connectorless "Sea Train" concept.DARPA's Sea Train program aims to demonstrate long range deployment capabilities for a distributed fleet of tactical unmanned surface vessels. The program seeks to enable extended transoceanic transit and long-range naval operations by exploiting the efficiencies of a…

The Hepburn and Sons LLC team welcomed David Rice, CAPT David Bauer, USN (Ret), and Gary Loberg as their newest members. David Rice serves as Senior Consultant, Material Science. David Bauer will serve as the Senior Manager, Material Science. Gary Loberg serves as Senior Manager, Advisory Services.David Rice comes to Hepburn and Sons, LLC after a career spanning 45 years at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS). During his time at NNS he served as the Manager of Contracted Research & Development and was responsible for Research & Development Programs funded by ONR/ManTech…

Ship hull biofouling has significant impacts on fleet readiness, ship performance, cost, and the environment. Biofouling results in increased hydrodynamic drag which results in greater fuel use and greater emissions per distance traveled than a hydraulically-smooth hull. A study by Schultz, et al. found the typical fouling rating (FR) of a US Navy DDG-51 class vessel, FR-30, increases fuel consumption by 10.3% over a hydraulically-smooth DDG-51. Results showed that reducing this…

Solid-State Welding Processes Being Developed for NASA Manufacturing Programs Could Significantly Reduce Workboat Fabrication CostsWhether it is for a tug boat, cargo vessel, or an offshore supply ship, much of the workboat fabrication industry is located along the Southern Coast of the U.S. But a visit to any one of the workboat facilities in that area (or any other in the country) would reveal antiquated and archaic fabrication processes used seventy years ago. The workboat manufacturing process is very expensive, labor intensive, and has not really changed since World War II.

U.S. shipbuilder Vigor said it has begun constructing a fifth 45’ Response Boat - Medium C (RB-M C) for its long-time customer, the New York Police Department (NYPD) Harbor Unit. The vessel will be fabricated at Vigor Ballard (formerly Kvichak Marine) in the Seattle metro area with delivery expected in November. It will be the seventh RB-M C built for three different police departments. The RB-M C is the commercial variant of the Response Boat - Medium (RB-M) designed by Vigor in partnership with Camarc Design for high speed and high performance…

Private partnerships, executed perfectly – that’s West Coast boatbuilding in today’s challenging business climates. P3 Partnerships: no, we’re not talking about infrastructure funding. But, in our P3 version, boatbuilding in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska is alive and well, because of it. Long-standing enterprises and relative newcomers are all experiencing an uptick in projects. Here, as part of our annual MN100 top company profiles, we take a look at how three organizations have either merged and/or partnered with complementary companies to expand skills…

The US military is beginning testing on the world's largest unmanned ship - a self-driving 40-metre vessel designed to travel thousands of kilometres out at sea without a single crew member on board. The 132-foot "Sea Hunter" will patrol the world’s oceans hunting and tracking enemy submarines and it will do it all without a single human aboard. The drone vessel can track an enemy submarine for thousands of miles for months at a time. “[The Sea Hunter] as the unique capability to go out, to see other vessels operating potentially in our own waters,” said Jared Adams of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). During the testing phase…

The U.S. military on Thursday christened an experimental self-driving warship designed to hunt for enemy submarines, a major advance in robotic warfare at the core of America's strategy to counter Chinese and Russian naval investments. The 132-foot-long (40-metre-long) unarmed prototype, dubbed Sea Hunter, is the naval equivalent of Google's self-driving car, designed to cruise on the ocean's surface for two or three months at a time - without a crew or anyone controlling it remotely.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will launch in April a sleek, 132-foot warship from Portland, OR, testing its abilities over a succeeding period of 18 months. The ship is entirely autonomous, fully operational without an onboard crew. The Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel, or ACTUV, is scheduled to be launched April 17 from the Vigor Shipyards in Oregon. The ACTUV will continue sea-trials for 18 months following its maiden voyage, where it will be tested for its long-range tracking and self-driving functions. “Imagine an unmanned surface vessel following all the laws of the sea on its own and operating with manned surface and unmanned underwater vehicles,” said DARPA’s Deputy Director Steve Walker, according to the magazine National Defense.

To keep track of increasingly stealthy Russian, Chinese, and Iranian submarines, the U.S. is building a robotic ghost ship - an unmanned, autonomous patrol ship - to follow them around the high seas. Called the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), the ships will detect and track diesel-powered subs, trailing from an observable distance, reports the Sputnik. Set to drift in the high seas, the robotic Sea Hunter will silently follow potentially hostile submarines. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been developing an unmanned, 132-foot patrol boat for years. The ACTUV ships will detect and track diesel-powered subs, trailing from an observable distance like that awkward cousin at the family BBQ.

USA’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is testing a drone that can hibernate on the ocean floor for years at a time before being launched to the surface and into the air at the push of a button. The new drones, being developed by the DARPA, are part of a new focus by the US military in developing and improving technology for emerging threats. According to DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar, the Agency is trying to approach military technology needs with a new perspective, after having focused primarily on assets for ground wars in the past 14 years. The Upward Falling Payloads (UFP) program will therefore be one of several other research projects DARPA will focus on as a means of revolutionizing the US Military’s maritime strategy.

The robotic series that remade crusade in skies will shortly extend to a low sea, with underwater view “satellites,” drone-launching pods on a sea building and unmanned ships sport submarines, reports AFP. The pods could launch surveillance drones in the air or at sea or provide a communications link when American forces are facing electronic jamming, said Jared Adams, spokesman for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Adam said that the proclivity is to capacitate timely deployment of unmanned distributed systems to apart locations by pre-deploying a resources years in allege and afterwards triggering their recover for fast effects during destiny times of a choosing. DARPA is working on a new system that can be used by the US military, more reliable than GPS.

National security, health & engineering solutions company, Leidos, says it has under construction an autonomous unmanned vessel designed to track quiet diesel-electric submarines spanning miles of ocean depths for months at a time with minimal human input, and due for testing at sea in 2015. Construction on the ACTUV (Autonomous Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel) is under a Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) program for the design, development, and construction of a vessel originally conceived for an anti-submarine warfare mission. "ACTUV's advanced sensor technology should allow for continuous surveillance which, combined with the vessel architecture and design…

Sparton Corporation has been awarded a Phase 1 contract for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Upward Falling Payload (UFP) program. Sparton, under the UFP program, will design a system intended to live on the sea floor and release payloads. This enablement is thought to represent a game changing capability for mission commanders. The company say it is energized by the opportunity and eager for the collaboration to execute on the delivery system module, in which they will be assisted by the Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington to provide additional deep ocean design expertise. “We have enjoyed working and collaborating with Sparton several times over the past few years and we are pleased to be working with them again…

The answer to this question is a resounding “no.” The U.S. is not prepared to protect its interests in the Arctic over the next decade. The primary legal regime that is being relied upon by all members of the Arctic fraternity, the Law of the Sea Convention, has not been adopted by the U.S. The operational resources needed to pursue our interests have not been funded and there is currently little prospect that they will be funded in the near future. U.S. interests in the Arctic are vast.

Innovative unmanned systems program moves forward to Phase II. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is developing new, advanced unmanned systems to support the Department of Defense's capability to deploy global persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and strike capabilities in a faster and more cost-effective way. The next-generation Tactical Exploited Reconnaissance Node (Tern) program is one example of several in progress focused on addressing various customer challenges. Designed to operate off small-deck U.S.