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Uuvs News

28 Mar 2023

In the Navy:The Role of Advanced Sea Mines in Future Conflicts

Sailors assigned to the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Annapolis (SSN 760) load a MK 67 submarine launched mobile mine (SLMM) onto Annapolis, May 4. Annapolis will be conducting maritime operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to maintain a safe and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Zachary Grooman).

When it comes to war, the old adage that the best defense is a good offense rings true. Nowhere is this more the case than naval warfare, where initiative can make the difference between victory and defeat. As an integral part of naval warfare, mine warfare – both mine countermeasures and mine laying, or “offensive” mine warfare - will continue to influence naval operations. Yet the latter of these sub disciplines - the “other” mine warfare, as Admiral James Winnefeld, Jr. calls it - has often been missing from mine warfare discussions.

27 Dec 2022

Racing to the Bottom: Seabed Warfare Brings Threats, Opportunities

Image courtesy Voyis

In the early morning hours of September 26, 2022, seismologists located throughout northern Europe detected two disturbances originating in the Baltic Sea that were consistent with underwater explosions. Within hours, an aerial image captured by a passing Danish F-16 showed an expanse of frothy seawater, suggesting that the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines had experienced a catastrophic event. Within days, an investigation by the Swedish Security Service concluded that both pipelines had sustained extensive damage due to an act of gross sabotage.

21 Nov 2022

Are Unmanned Surface Vessels the Key to a 500-Ship U.S. Navy?

Photo courtesy Jack Rowley

In an era of great power competition, navies – by virtue of their ability to span the globe and effectively deliver combat power – are likely to be the sine qua non of military power. This leads, naturally, to the tendency to count numbers of ship hulls when comparing the strength of navies. Lost on no one is the fact that the size of China’s Navy now exceeds that of the U.S. Navy, and the gap in ship numbers is growing.During the Cold War, while the quality of their ships might not have been equal to that of the U.S.

27 Jul 2022

Attention Turns to Extra Large Unmanned Underwater Vessels

Photo courtesy Anduril Industries

In August, 2021, after years of delays, cost overruns, and rising tensions, the Australian government canceled a A$90 billion order with France’s Naval Group for 12 conventionally powered submarines intended to replace the Royal Australian Navy (RAN)’s aging fleet of six Collins-class attack subs. Overnight, the future of the RAN’s undersea warfare capability was cast into uncertainty. The very next month, however, the United States and the United Kingdom announced a plan to help Australia fill the void…

26 Jan 2022

Getting to the Bottom of the Navies' Mine Warfare Challenges

The General Dynamics Mission Systems Bluefin Robotics Knifefish UUV detects, classifies and identifies volume, proud and buried mines in high-clutter underwater environments, and is a critical element of the LCS Mine Countermeasure (MCM) mission package. Knifefish’s job is to detect, avoid and identify mine threats, reducing the risk to personnel by operating in the minefield as an off-board sensor while the host ship stays outside the minefield boundaries. Knifefish also gathers environmental d

To find the mine warfare challenge with the highest degree of difficulty, start at the bottom.Lurking unseen below the surface, naval mines pose a serious problem. They’re cheap, relatively easy to deploy and can inflict heavy damage against even the most sophisticated warships. They can be hard to detect and difficult to counter. What you can’t see can hurt you. And the most difficult mines to find and eliminate are bottom and buried mines. Navies have developed ships to hunt for mines in the water column so they can be avoided or destroyed…

15 Feb 2021

Subsea Defense: Navy Deepens Commitment to Underwater Vehicles

Senior Chief Mineman Abraham Garcia (left) and Aerographer's Mate 1st Class Joshua Gaskill, members of the Knifefish Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) test team, man tending lines during crane operations as part of an operational test conducted by members from Operational Test and Evaluation Force (OPTEVFOR). Knifefish is a medium-class mine countermeasure UUV designed for deployment off the Littoral Combat Ship. OPTEVFOR is the Navy’s sole test and evaluation organization for surface, air, and un

The U.S. Navy uses unmanned and robotic underwater vehicles for a multitude of functions, including environmental sensing, mine hunting, and salvage. The Navy plans to evolve an unmanned systems operating concept that is platform agnostic and capable of operating in highly complex contested environments with minimal operator interaction.The most recent edition of the Navy’s Unmanned Systems (UxS) Roadmap was issued in 2018, and a new version is expected in the near future. The 2018 document states that UxS will operate in every domain…

12 Oct 2020

Port Security: Autonomous ANTX

Graphic representation of the exercise; met-ocean data collection operations running concurrently with simulated threats, detection and mitigation assets. Image from ION.

Geophysical seismic surveys and port security may appear to have little in-common. However, it turns out that managing complex marine seismic operations, where 10km-long seismic streamers have to be deployed harmoniously alongside other offshore marine assets, isn’t that dissimilar to managing – and protecting – port facilities.It's an area that ION Geophysical, more known for seismic data acquisition technology, has recently been proving its expertise in, using its Marlin system for marine operations management.

22 Sep 2020

Huntington Ingalls Industries Building Unmanned Systems Hub

Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and HII Executive Vice President and President, HII Technical Solutions Andy Green break ground on HII’s Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence. (Photo: HII)

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is building a new hub for unmanned systems prototyping, production and testing to meet growing demand from the U.S. Navy for autonomous and uncrewed systems.The purpose-built Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence will include two buildings totaling over 150,000 square feet constructed on a 20-acre campus in Hampton, Va., the U.S.'s largest military shipbuilder said in announcing the center's groundbreaking on Tuesday.“With U.S. Navy’s increasing demand for UUVs and USVs…

23 Jul 2020

Understanding Marine Autonomy: Today’s Market and Future Concerns

Copyright:  videotrinkets/AdobeStock

Press coverage of early commercial marine autonomy projects is remarkably broad given the small number of marine industry professionals engaged in bringing these projects to market. The much larger assembly of industry stakeholders are left wondering what marine autonomy means for them. Regulatory, cost, and technical challenges stand in the way of fielding today’s autonomy technologies for most existing fleets and vessel missions. Autonomy is coming whether you’re prepared or not.

25 Jun 2020

For the Royal Australian Navy, Technological Leap Starts Small

Photo: Thales Australia

Driven by the need to organically protect maritime Task Groups from the threat of sea mines, the Royal Australian Navy is introducing a deployable Mine Counter-Measures (MCM) capability under the first phase of Project SEA 1778.The Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) SEA 1778 deployable Mine Counter-Measures (MCM) capability is both a small step forward in the spiral development process and a “technological leap” into autonomy.”The RAN is looking to replace its four legacy Huon-class minehunter coastal ships (MHCs) with a new deployable MCM capability.

10 Mar 2020

Ribcraft Wins $43m USN Contract

Image: Ribcraft

Ribcraft announced that the United States Navy (USN) has awarded a five-year indefinite quantity contract worth up to $43 million to build and deliver an estimated 48 of the 11-Meter Expeditionary Mine Counter Measure Boat. Ribcraft has also been providing the U.S. Navy with 7-Meter shipboard RIBs since 2014.The 11-Meter RIBs will serve to support explosive ordinance disposal mine counter measure platoons in both shallow and deep water operations. To achieve this, Ribcraft will build two configurations for mine counter measure operations…

17 Dec 2019

RIBCRAFT Inks USN 11-Meter RIB Contract

File Image: RIBCRAFT designed and built boats underway (CREDIT: RIBCRAFT)

RIBCRAFT announced that the United States Navy has awarded a five-year indefinite quantity contract to the company to provide the 11-Meter RIBs.Under the contract, RIBCRAFT will build and deliver the 11-Meter Expeditionary Mine Counter Measure Boat. RIBCRAFT has also been providing the U.S. Navy with 7-Meter shipboard RIBs since 2014.A critical component of the Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures Company, the 11-Meter RIBs will serve to support explosive ordinance disposal mine counter measure platoons in both shallow and deep water operations.

15 Oct 2019

Interview: Dr. Catherine Warner, Director, NATO CMRE

Dr. Catherine Warner, Director, NATO CMRE. Photo: CMRE

At CMRE, it’s not just about the science. It’s about building trust and confidence in resilient systems. An interview with Dr. Catherine Warner, Director, NATO Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation, La Spezia, ItalyTell us a little about yourself and CMRE. What does CMRE do, and how do you see your mission evolving?I came here from the Pentagon, where I was the science advisor for the director of operational test and evaluation. My experience has been working with operators on systems that they’re getting ready to field.

08 Oct 2019

NATO employs MUSCLE Memory to Find Mines

MUSCLE Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Deployment. Photo courtesy of CMRE

Underwater vehicles communicate, make decisions, and work as a teamThe NATO Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia, Italy, is combining smarts and muscle to solve a complex warfighting challenge: finding and destroying mines in the murky waters of the littoral.CMRE has developed experimental unmanned vehicles for experimentation. Now it is evolving those vehicles to communicate and cooperate with each other, and to solve problems on their own.According to CMRE’s director Dr.

15 Aug 2019

UUV Market to Reach $7.64bln

The global unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) market was around USD 2.92 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach approximately USD 7.64 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of slightly above 14.91% between 2018 and 2025.The global unmanned underwater vehicles market is growing, owing to its rising applications in the defense and military sector, scientific research applications, and commercial purposes, said a report from Zion Market Research.Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), also referred to as underwater drones, are vehicles that can operate underwater without any kind of human interference.The rising demand for these vehicles in navel applications for safety and security purposes is another major factor driving the unmanned underwater vehicles market growth.

14 Feb 2019

Contemporary UUV Propulsor Design

Image: Donald MacPherson/Hydrocomp

From the standpoint of vehicle propulsion physics, an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) is little different from your personal ski boat or a tanker. It shares the Vessel-Propulsor-Drive system model, which allows a Propulsor to convert Drive energy into thrust for the purpose of moving a Vessel. The basic principles of thrust equilibrium and motion are common to all three, as are the translation of rotational energy into axial thrust by the central element of the system – the…

23 May 2018

Autonomous Vessels: FAU Gets $1.25m for Research

Photo: FAU

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science has been awarded a $1.25 million grant by the United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) to undertake research in support of autonomous unmanned marine vehicle platforms for coastal surveillance, coastal surveys, target tracking and protection of at-sea assets. The five-year project will entail developing unmanned surface vehicles that serve as “motherships” for unmanned underwater vehicles and aerial drones…

07 Oct 2016

Global Submarine Battery Market Growth at 5.28%

The global submarine battery market to grow at a CAGR of 5.28% during the period 2016-2020, says Global Submarine Battery Market 2016-2020 report by Research and Markets. Global Submarine Battery Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. To calculate the market size, the report considers the total number of submarines, segmentation by submarine type and average unit price. Increased demand from China will be a key trend for market growth. China's demand for submarines has been growing owing to the country's Taiwan dilemma.

30 Sep 2016

SeeByte Tapped for UK Navy’s Unmanned Warrior Exercise

Unmanned Warrior

SeeByte, creator of smart software for unmanned maritime systems, said it will demonstrate software solutions for unmanned systems as part of the Royal Navy’s Unmanned Warrior exercise. The exercise will feature more than 50 vehicles, sensors and systems and aims to demonstrate never-seen-before capabilities in the field of autonomy and unmanned systems. SeeByte’s software forms the core components of the Hell Bay 4 and MCM Challenge elements of Unmanned Warrior. The aim of these exercises is to develop and push the capabilities of autonomous systems…

18 Mar 2016

Boeing Unveils Robotic Submarine

Boeing Co. has unveiled at its Huntington Beach facility an autonomous, unmanned undersea vehicle that can be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The Echo Voyager, which is 51 feet long, is capable of running on its own, unmanned, for months underwater while being able to dive to 11,000 feet. Echo Voyager is the latest innovation in Boeing’s UUV family, joining the 32-foot Echo Seeker and the 18-foot Echo Ranger. The Voyager is expected to begin sea trials off the California coast in Summer 2016. “Echo Voyager is a new approach to how unmanned undersea vehicles will operate and be used in the future,” said Darryl Davis, president, Boeing Phantom Works. Echo Voyager will begin sea trials off the California coast later this summer.

21 Jul 2015

US Navy Launches Undersea Drone

A U.S. Navy submarine has become the first to launch and recover an underwater drone used in a military operation, reports AP. The attack submarine USS North Dakota returned to its base in Groton, Connecticut, on Monday following a nearly two-month deployment. The vessel's commanding officer, Capt. Douglas Gordon, said the Mediterranean Sea mission proved submarine-launched drones are a viable option for the Navy. The drone was launched from a shelter attached to the top of the Virginia class submarine that can also be used for the undersea deployment of divers and special forces. Gordon declined to provide details of the mission. The Navy sees the drones…

14 Jul 2015

Kraken Announced Executive Appointments

Kraken Sonar Inc. announced it has recruited two industry veterans to further develop its sensors-to-systems strategy. Joining the company is Dr. Tom Tureaud, who brings 30 years of industry experience with expertise that resulted in 12 patents, and Gina Miller, adding 10 years of unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) system engineering and leadership to Kraken’s design team. “We view these appointments as a sign of our commitment to being a leading company in our industry,” said Karl Kenny, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kraken. “Our new innovations and increasing customer demand led us to look for additions to our team who will further our sensors-to-systems strategy. We are very fortunate that we were able to find such high caliber people. Dr.

28 Aug 2014

Navy Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Delivery Milestone

Commander, Submarine Development Squadron 5 (CSDS 5), Detachment UUV, informs of the delivery of Large Training Vehicle 38 (LTV 38), an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV), which makes LTV 38 the first UUV to join the vehicle inventory used by detachment UUV at Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport. LTV 38 is able to perform at a maximum depth of 1,000 meters for up to 72 hours. It is designed as a full-pressure hull vehicle, capable of both line of sight and over the horizon communications, and can also conduct limited autonomous contact avoidance maneuvers via acoustic sensors while anchored and such missions are conducted and controlled remotely.