medium unmanned surface vehicle

Navy Betting Big on Unmanned Warships Defining Future of the Fleet

Medium displacement unmanned surface vehicle (MDUSV) prototype Sea Hunter is moored onboard Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. US Navy Photo

THE PENTAGON – The Navy has more questions than answers on how it will use unmanned warships in the future, but it knows now is the time to get unmanned surface vehicles into the water and start learning, the Navy’s top requirements officer told USNI News.

The service is so sure that it needs USVs for its future operations that it is pouring $2.7...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/08/navy-betting-big-on-unmanned-warships-defining-future-of-the-fleet

30-Year Plan: Navy Puts 355-Ship Cap on Fleet Size; Plans to Introduce Large Combatant, CHAMP Auxiliary Hull

USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) steams through the Pacific Ocean on Oct. 26, 2018. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s latest 30-year shipbuilding plan outlines a path forward that includes less near-term growth in fleet size but reaches and sustains a 355-ship fleet sooner than last year’s plan.

According to the “Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels for Fiscal Year 2020,” the Navy would decommission its cruisers and mine countermeasures ships sooner, creating more...

Navy to Begin Large Surface Combatant Buys in 2025; Delayed From Original 2023 Start

USS Sterett (DDG-104) is pierside at Naval Base Ventura County in 2017. US Navy Photo

The Navy now plans to buy its first Large Surface Combatant ship in Fiscal Year 2025, pushed back two years from a planned 2023 start date.

Though the new warship is not meant to directly replace either the Ticonderoga-class cruisers or the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the original timing would have allowed the Navy to stop its Arleigh Burke DDG production at the end of the current multiyear contract in 2022...

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/15/navy-to-begin-large-surface-combatant-buys-in-2025-delayed-from-original-2023-start

Navy Wants 10-Ship Unmanned ‘Ghost Fleet’ to Supplement Manned Force

A Naval Sea Systems Command-developed Iraqi 60-meter Offshore Support Vessel. US Navy briefing material indicate that early versions of the service’s large unmanned surface vessels could be based on OSV designs. US Navy Photo

THE PENTAGON – As the Navy faces more complex threats to its manned ships from Russia and China, the service is moving quickly to field an unmanned “Ghost Fleet” — a new breed of armed unmanned surface combatants will add more sensors and weapons to the current fleet.

In Fisc...

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/13/navy-wants-ten-ship-3b-unmanned-experimental-ghost-fleet

Large Surface Combatant Program Delayed Amid Pivot Towards Unmanned, Other Emerging Tech

Navy leaders had previously said the new program – not a direct replacement for the cruiser or destroyer, but a generic next step for the surface navy – would be awarded to a shipbuilder in 2023 or 2024. However, this week’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget request shows shipbuilding requests out through 2024 and makes no mention of the Large Surface Combatant procurement. A budget briefing noted $71 million in research and development funds in FY 2020 but provided no other clues about the program’s...

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/13/large-surface-combatant-program-delayed-amid-pivot-towards-unmanned-other-emerging-tech

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