NOMARS Puts New Officers in Charge
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,” seeking engineering ideas to design “a seaframe from the ground up with no provision, allowance, or expectation for humans at sea.” Since an uncrewed vessel does not require any space or systems for humans, it presents significant advantages pertaining to size, cost, reliability and “survivability to adversary actions such as stealth considerations and resistance to tampering,” according to a DARPA information page.
The project took a big step forward in October when Nichols Brothers Boat Builders (NBBB), based in Freeland, WA, announced it was awarded the contract, by Serco North America, the project manager, to build the NOMARS.
NBBB would not answer any specific questions about the Defiant but a spokesperson did say that vessel launch will be next year.
Dr. Gregory Avicola, Program Manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, is an expert in remote sensing, undersea systems and naval warfare.
Dr. Avicola was asked about whether the Defiant’s autonomous operations impacted demands for new and cutting-edge technologies. Avicola said that regarding hardware designers had two basic challenges: hardiness to withstand lengthy sea-times and affordability. The Defiant will use commercial off-the-shelf equipment in its construction.
Avicola added: “The real innovation of NOMARS lies in the system engineering and design of the ship. The program began by embracing the fact that the ship would always be unmanned while at sea, and thus removed all the requirements for ship design that exist for the human crew. This freed up the team to design a ship differently from every other ship in the ocean, maximizing reliability and utility.”
“The real innovation of NOMARS lies in the system engineering and design of the ship.” Dr. Gregory Avicola, Program Manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (Credit: DARPA)
Regarding AI, Avicola explained that AI’s roles expand within the Defiant. Avicola said that previous autonomous applications were for command. A new capability expands to the (virtual) chief engineer. “The goal,” Avicola said, “would be to provide the ability for the autonomous CO and the autonomous CE to interact with each other in ways analogous to a human crew.” For example: assume a rudder’s actuation degraded and the ship’s maneuverability changed. “An autonomous chief engineer,” Avicola explained, “can update the autonomous CO of what the new handling characteristics of the ship are in this degraded state, so the CO can maneuver the ship more accurately.”
This mission is just getting underway. Welcome aboard!
