On May 13, 2022, at the San Diego Naval Base, the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet established the Unmanned Surface Vessel Division One (USVDIV One) . This move is to speed up the integration of research and development, testing, integration and other aspects of unmanned surface ships. The force will directly manage the test work of medium-sized and large unmanned surface ships, including the two medium-sized unmanned surface ships "Sea Hunter" and "Sea Eagle" .
▲ The "Sea Hunter" participated in the founding ceremony of the First Division of Unmanned Surface Vessels at the San Diego Naval Base.
▲ On May 17, 2022, the USS Seahawk (front) and the USS Sea Hunter unmanned craft participated in an exercise held in San Diego.
The U.S. Navy conducted its first unmanned systems fleet exercise, "Unmanned Integrated Warfare Issue 21," on the West Coast last year. Both the Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk participated in the exercise, but the Navy has been tight-lipped on specific details. In January and February this year, the Fifth Fleet hosted the "2022 International Maritime Exercise" and the "2022 Scimitar Express" joint exercise, with another 9,000 personnel, 50 ships and approximately 80 unmanned systems from 60 regions. join. The 59th Task Group of the Fifth Fleet is a unit dedicated to testing the unmanned ship .
Based on the trials and exercises of these unmanned ships, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps decided to "build less, test less, and learn more" in the future, and revised their development plans.
In order to carry out operations in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean in the future, the Marine Corps is purchasing more unmanned systems to perform tasks such as remote data communication relay and transportation of supplies. They have purchased MQ-9A drones for aerial reconnaissance and communication relay. Recently, it has begun to receive unmanned boats and carry out related tests.
Metal Shark will build five unmanned boats for the Marine Corps, and the first one has been delivered in the first quarter of this year.
company said that they will develop "a network of unmanned ships for the Marine Corps that can autonomously conduct long-range voyages and launch loitering munitions against sea and ground targets." Marine Corps officials said that these unmanned ships The boats can also deliver supplies to Marines in remote areas.
The main changes in the U.S. Navy's unmanned ship development plan are: reducing medium unmanned surface ships (MDDS),
expanding small unmanned surface ships;
abandoning large unmanned undersea vehicles (LDUUV),
turning to ultra-large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (XLUUV),
In the Navy’s original plan for unmanned surface ships, the medium-sized unmanned surface ship (MUSV) will perform detection missions and provide battlefield situation information to the fleet. The 59th Task Force has recently conducted many experiments in places such as the Middle East and tested some small unmanned surface ships.
▲ On January 27, 2022, in the Arabian Gulf on the coast of Bahrain, a "Sailing Explorer" unmanned boat was being towed. This is an unmanned boat that can sail autonomously for a long time. It is about 7 meters long and relies on wind power for propulsion. The solar panel provides electrical energy to the equipment on the boat.
▲ On April 29, 2022, on the coast of Bahrain, a T38 "Devil Ray" unmanned boat participated in a demonstration event.
Based on these test results, senior U.S. Navy officials are considering using lower-cost and larger quantities of small unmanned ships and drones to perform the above tasks. Adm. Mike Gilday said: "Instead of having to build" a larger unmanned ship , "we can close the capability gap with small, expendable unmanned aerial vehicles on any platform." Of course, this does not mean that the U.S. Navy will give up on medium-sized unmanned surface ships.
For the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV) , the Navy believes that "from the auxiliary ammunition depot perspective, it may be the best choice to exponentially increase the number of munitions we have at sea."
▲ In September 2021, the USS Ranger unmanned ship carried a four-unit Mk41 vertical launch system , an "Aegis" weapon system simulation package, and launched a "standard" 6 missile. This picture is a screenshot from a US Department of Defense video.
In the fiscal year 2023 budget released in April, the U.S. Navy has proposed canceling the "Snakehead" large unmanned undersea vehicle project.
▲ On February 2, 2022, at the Newport Harbor Branch of the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Narragansett Bay, the "Snakehead" large unmanned underwater vehicle was launched, followed by a naming ceremony.
According to the original plan, the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) can be launched and recovered from the submarine to help the submarine perform reconnaissance, special operations and other undersea missions . However, an interface has not yet been developed to facilitate UUV to cooperate with most attack nuclear submarines . Currently, it can only be carried on the submarine through the "Modified Dry Deck Transfer Chamber" (MDDS) or the "Payload System" (PHS) , can use large unmanned undersea vehicles (LDUUV) such as "Snakehead", which leads to restrictions on its use. Plans to integrate large unmanned undersea vehicles (LDUUV) with Virginia-class nuclear submarines also suffer from schedule delays and high costs, further limiting research and development in this area.
As a result, the U.S. Navy has now turned its attention to the Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) . It sets off directly from the dock and basically functions as a small submarine, suitable for performing secret missions, including laying mines, seabed sensors, and searching for enemy submarines. The first XLUUV built by Boeing Company , "Orca", has been launched.
The U.S. Navy has also established a working group to try in the development process of unmanned platforms, introducing a similar venture capital approach: scanning the military and commercial markets for technologies to determine which ones can be used in combat and looking for potential implementations. obstacles, select technologies for further trials, and finally select a small number of projects for small investments. Since the task force was formed, several technologies have been identified for investment, but the Navy has not disclosed what those technologies are.
▲ On March 14, 2022, on the "Hershel Williams" expedition base ship (ESB-4), US military intelligence officers and soldiers were recovering an IRS (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) drone.
The U.S. Navy is now very concerned about carrying out "distributed maritime operations" in all fields, and is actively using various unmanned ship prototypes that have been launched to test a variety of actions in fleet exercises to improve their technical requirements for unmanned ships. , operational concepts. Navy executives believe that the work of Task Group 59 is very effective and allows them to quickly absorb lessons learned. However, the establishment of a new working group and the trial of new investment models are also because the Navy believes that the 59th Task Group "will reach the limit of commercial technology."
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