Boeing delivers Navy’s first Orca XLUUV

The Navy’s plans for unmanned vessels include uncrewed undersea as well as uncrewed surface vessels and Boeing [NYSE: BA] has now delivered the first Orca Extra Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) to the Navy following completion of acceptance testing month. The XLUUV, designated by the Navy as “Orca,” is a new class of autonomous submarine that can perform long duration critical missions to achieve undersea maritime dominance in changing environments and contested waters.

“This is the...

https://www.marinelog.com/news/boeing-delivers-navys-first-orca-xluuv/

New Torpedo Tube-launched Drones Will Turn U.S. Attack Sub Fleet into ‘UUV Motherships,’ Says Navy

USS Vermont (SSN-792) transits the Thames River while conducting routine operations on Oct. 15, 2020. US Navy Photo

ARLINGTON, Va. – In the near future, the U.S. nuclear attack submarine fleet will be able to launch and recover an underwater robot from a torpedo tube, Navy officials said this week.

The torpedo-sized Razorback — designed to extend the awareness of a submarine— has been in testing on the Navy’s attack boats for more than a year but requires a dry deck shelter and divers to recover...

Navy Takes Delivery of Sea Hawk Unmanned Vessel

Seahawk USV. Leidos Image

A second medium-sized unmanned surface vessel prototype has delivered to the Navy, builder Leidos announced this week.

Sea Hawk, sister ship to the Navy’s Sea Hunter, was built on the Gulf Coast and is now bound to join the Navy’s Surface Development Squadron One in California, the company said in a Wednesday press release.

In 2017, the Office of Naval research awarded Leidos a $35.5 million contract to build the 145-ton trimaran as a follow-up to the original L3-built...

https://news.usni.org/2021/04/08/navy-takes-delivery-of-sea-hawk-unmanned-vessel

Navy Pushing to Maintain 2023 USV Program of Record Timeline

A Ghost Fleet Overlord test vessel takes part in a capstone demonstration during the conclusion of Phase I of the program in September. Two existing commercial fast supply vessels were converted into unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for Overlord testing, which will play a vital role in informing the Navy’s new classes of USVs. US Navy photo.

Several Navy program officials and resource sponsors today outlined how they’ll spend the next couple years giving Congress enough confidence in unmanned...

https://news.usni.org/2020/09/08/navy-pushing-to-maintain-2023-usv-program-of-record-timeline

Navy Autonomy Lab Would Test, Integrate Software Advances to Bring More Capability to Unmanned Fleet

A Knifefish unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) training model undergoes crane operations aboard the Military Sealift Command expeditionary fast transport vessel USNS Spearhead (T-EPF 1) as part of a training exercise enabling mine countermeasure missions (MCM) from an EPF as a Vessel of Opportunity (VOO). Knifefish is a medium-class mine countermeasure UUV designed for deployment off the littoral combat ship in 2019. US Navy Photo

The Navy is kicking off a pilot program for an autonomy lab that...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/28/navy-autonomy-lab-would-test-integrate-software-advances-to-bring-more-capability-to-unmanned-fleet

Navy, Industry Pursuing Autonomy Software, Reliable HM&E Systems for Unmanned Ships

Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MDUSV) prototype Sea Hunter pulls into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Oct. 31, 2018. US Navy Photo

ARLINGTON, Va. – As the Navy moves forward with unmanned surface and undersea vessels in a range of sizes for myriad missions, some things remain constant among the vehicles: they’ll all need to continue making improvements in autonomy, they’ll all need parts that are reliable enough to go without human intervention for weeks or months at a...

https://news.usni.org/2020/01/31/navy-industry-pursuing-autonomy-software-reliable-hme-systems-for-unmanned-ships

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