Medium displacement unmanned surface vessels Seahawk, front, and Sea Hunter launch for the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21), April 20, 2021. US Navy Photo
The manned-unmanned teaming experimentation currently underway at the biennial Rim of the Pacific 2022 exercise will help the Navy decide the future of the Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle, a service official told reporters on Monday.
Speaking to reporters virtually, Rear Adm. Casey Moton, the...
USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) cruises under the Coronado Bridge in San Diego Bay, Dec. 7, 2018. US Navy Photo
The Navy will get a first glimpse of what future operations could look like, when a Zumwalt-class destroyer manages long-range surveillance and fires by manned and unmanned platforms in an upcoming exercise in the Pacific.
U.S. Pacific Fleet will host its most complex exercise to date involving unmanned systems, with next month’s Fleet Battle Problem exercise including unmanned aircraft...
The following is the March 16, 2021, Department of the Navy Unmanned Campaign Framework.
From the report
The National Defense Strategy (NDS) defines “the central challenge to U.S. prosperity and security as the reemergence of long-term, strategic competition” posed by Russia and China. It emphasizes that, “America’s military has no preordained right to victory on the battlefield.” The developing abilities of nearpeer competitors drive the need for increased Naval capability distributed over a...
https://news.usni.org/2021/03/16/document-department-of-the-navy-unmanned-campaign-framework
Attack boat Vermont (SSN-792) float-off on March 29, 2019. General Dynamics Electric Boats Photo
This post is part of a series of stories looking back at the top naval news from 2020.
2020 may be among the most consequential years for Navy acquisition in recent memory, with the service making big moves in support of its Distributed Maritime Operations operating concept.
2020 was the year the Navy officially started construction on the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program, a massive...
https://news.usni.org/2020/12/25/top-stories-2020-u-s-navy-acquisition
Sea Hunter, an entirely new class of unmanned sea surface vehicle developed in partnership between the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), completed an autonomous sail from San Diego to Hawaii and back—the first ship ever to do so autonomously. US Navy photo.
As the Pentagon prepares for a fight in the vastness of the Indo-Pacific, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a concept it hopes will allow unmanned...
https://news.usni.org/2020/11/02/darpa-aiming-to-increase-usv-range-with-sea-trains-program
With the Pentagon pitching a future naval force design that calls for as many as 240 unmanned and optionally manned ships on the surface and under the sea, a natural question is: what will they all do?
The Navy has pitched a range of missions for its unmanned surface and undersea vessels, ranging from gathering intelligence to laying mines to launching missiles – the latter of which Congress strongly opposes at this point in the USV’s development – but few concrete concepts of operations have...
Chinese Navy USV
A candid photograph posted on Chinese social media sheds light on a Chinese project to develop an unmanned ship similar to the U.S. Navy’s Sea Hunter. The trimaran is remarkably similar to the Sea Hunter in almost every respect.
Although the designation of the project is unknown, based on imagery analysis, the builder and dimensions have been established.
The uncrewed Sea Hunter has been designed under the Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program. The uncrewed surface...
https://news.usni.org/2020/09/25/chinese-navy-crafts-unmanned-sea-hunter-knock-off
Textron’s Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle. Textron photo.
Early next year, U.S. Pacific Fleet will assemble the unmanned systems the Navy has deployed to the Indo-Pacific for an exercise to serve as an early marker on integrating unmanned platforms into the Navy.
The battle problem will mix and match the unmanned systems currently operating in the Pacific – a combination of early developmental undersea, surface and more mature aerial unmanned systems – for a scenario that will test the current...
https://news.usni.org/2020/09/08/pacfleet-preparing-for-2021-unmanned-fleet-battle-problem
Artist’s conception of the Boeing and HII Orca XLUUV. Boeing Image
As the Navy continues its pursuit of unmanned vehicles, Huntington Ingalls Industries hopes to harness its experience building the service’s largest platforms to expand naval capability in the unmanned realm.
After purchasing a company that builds unmanned undersea vehicles earlier this year, HII last month announced an investment in Sea Machines Robotics, a company located in Boston, Mass. that focuses on software for the...
https://news.usni.org/2020/08/04/hii-growing-unmanned-investments-as-navy-plans-to-expand-capability