Technology Laboratory News

The U.K. Royal Navy recently trialed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies at sea to counter supersonic missile threats.The operational experiment was carried out on the Type 45 Destroyer (HMS Dragon) and Type 23 Frigate (HMS Lancaster), using the AI applications Startle and Sycoiea as part of Exercise Formidable Shield, which wrapped up on Thursday off the coast of Scotland.As part of the Above Water Systems program, led by Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) scientists…

The British Royal Navy has taken delivery of a new autonomous vessel as the service examines the use of cutting-edge unmanned craft across a range of military operations including surveillance and force protection. The new vessel, named Madfox (short for maritime demonstrator for operational experimentation), was officially handed over to the Navy's experimentation innovator NavyX, who is working toward preparing the uncrewed surface vessel (USV) for a demanding year of testing at sea."With Madfox now directly in the hands of NavyX…

Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology laboratory is examining opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants from marine vessels in Canada.Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) said Monday it has been awarded a contract by Transport Canada to develop an assessment tool to examine clean technologies that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the release of other pollutants from vessels. Using what is known as CNL’s Marine-Zero FuelTM (MaZeFTM) Assessment Tool…

L3Harris Technologies delivered a new class of Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) with advanced capabilities to serve the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy.The Maritime Autonomy Surface Testbed (MAST) 13 is a 13-meter (41-ft.) long high-speed system capable of fully autonomous navigation. The ASV uses L3Harris’ ASView proprietary autonomous control system and advanced algorithms developed for the U.K.’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).Designed, built and commissioned by L3Harris’ Unmanned Maritime Systems team based on the south coast of the UK…

Joel Reid joined Cox Powertrain in April 2015. He holds an EMBA in Business from the University of Chicago, a Master’s Degree in Marine Surveying and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Reid has been instrumental in bringing Cox’s ground-breaking 300hp diesel outboard to market and has worked tirelessly over the last three years to create an enviable global distributor network. Reid is currently focuses his efforts on sales, distribution and support in the US market, which it is predicted to account for approximately 50% of Cox’s diesel outboard sales globally.

ExxonMobil has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) as part of its efforts to advance lower-emissions technologiesExxonMobil will fund operations of the two institutions to the tune of $100 million over the next 10 years, looking to bring biofuels and carbon capture and storage to commercial scale across the transportation.“The agreement adds to our work with more than 80 universities around the world and with five energy centers – at MIT, Princeton, Stanford, the University of Texas and two national universities in Singapore…

L3 ASV announced the completion of a series of demonstrations at the Australian Defense Showcase, Autonomous Warrior 18.In support of the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), L3 ASV operated a 9-m vessel outfitted with autonomous navigation capability for reconnaissance, interdiction and patrol tasks.The vessel, dubbed MAST-9, operated in fully autonomous mode, including COLREG aware collision avoidance, navigating the waterways at speeds of up to 40 knots, for over 80 hours, across the two-week event.

Cohort plc companies MASS and SEA have been selected to form part of a new UK Ministry of Defense maritime research and development program being managed by defense technology company QinetiQ. QinetiQ has been awarded a contract by the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to manage the Progeny Maritime Research Framework contract to enhance the effect of technology in the maritime defense environment. Under the contract, QinetiQ will build and manage a community of interest who will contribute ideas to maximise the impact of science and technology for UK maritime defense.

The US Coast Guard has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with British diesel engine innovator, Cox Powertrain. The CRADA will evaluate and test the advantages, disadvantages, required technology enhancements, performance, costs and other issues associated with diesel outboard engine technology. There a been a big swell of interest in diesel outboards since NATO introduced its single fuel policy, with the military and naval forces of member countries keen to phase out petrol-fuelled outboards in favour of cleaner diesel alternatives.

The UK provided RFA Mounts Bay to support the Danish-led maritime operation, escorting a Danish transport ship through the Mediterranean as it carried the chemicals, the Defence Secretary and Foreign Secretary have announced. Libya’s chemical weapons stockpile was destroyed under international supervision in 2014. However, a quantity of chemicals which could be made into chemical weapons remained in the country. Earlier this year, the Libyan Government of National Accord requested support from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the international community in removing the remaining chemicals from Libya and destroying them safely in a third country.

Thales is set to play a key role in a major U.K. Royal Navy exercise later this year to understand how unmanned systems might add real innovative operational capability in a military maritime environment. Exercise Unmanned Warrior will bring together the Royal Navy and 40 organizations from defense, industry and academia in October, representing the largest exercise of its kind. More than 50 vehicles, sensors and systems from across defense and industry will be deployed the Ministry of Defense exercise centered around the U.K. coast of Scotland and West Wales.

Shipping companies are being sought to assist the ‘VoyagOR’ project, which aims use route optimization systems to make shipping operations more cost-effective. The VoyagOR project team is keen to engage with businesses that stand to benefit from improved route Optimization. A better understanding of such companies will help the project develop VoyagOR to best meet user requirements. VoyagOR utilizes a cloud-based voyage optimization system to provide a support tool to achieve fuel and emissions savings on short sea routes as well as improved scheduling.

The final phase of a competition to develop novel adaptive autonomous ocean sampling network (AAOSN) management systems for the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is now underway. Two UK consortia will move forward to develop systems capable of coordinating a suite of marine autonomous vehicles gathering data from the ocean over periods of months, and tracking and sampling dynamic features. The two-phase competition was launched last September by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in partnership with the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and Innovate UK…

With the ocean moving more than 90% of world commerce, keeping it secure is of vital importance – yet our ability to monitor activity at sea is somewhat more challenging than on land given the vastness of the oceans. Also many maritime monitoring systems rely on ships to ‘opt-in’, that can leave potentially risky blind spots in our picture of maritime traffic. This article, derived from a presentation that David Beard of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory gave at the recent DMC and NovaSAR International Conference…

QinetiQ Maritime contracted by UK'sMinistry of Defence (MOD) to research co-ordinated defence against attacks on Royal Naval ships. The contract is to carry out research into the co-ordinated defence of the Royal Navy fleet against the emerging threat of attacks from small, fast and agile boats that might be used by pirates, terrorists or other hostile forces. The contract has been awarded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), a trading fund of the MoD which maximises the impact of science and technology for UK defence and security. The research brings together two innovative concepts from QinetiQ with the potential to deliver an integrated solution for the Royal Navy to counter the small boat threat.

The Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program conducted its first Capability Demonstration, Jan. 14-27. The initial demonstration was hosted for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) off the Virginia coast near the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va. The Capability Demonstration provided NECC Sailors an opportunity to observe new technologies developed by industry in a realistic military maritime environment. The program also provided the 15 participating industry partners an opportunity to receive immediate end-user feedback toward increasing technology readiness levels. “Warfighting needs are rapidly changing…

The Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program has conducted its first capability demonstration for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC). The Stiletto is a unique, maritime demonstration craft developed by the Defense Department to test littoral warfare concepts. Engineers and technicians with specialized expertise in maritime technology from Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock's Norfolk detachment maintain and operate the 88-foot-long, composite-bodied, m-shaped vessel.