Naval Drones

Some of the USVs NATO is currently testing (as reported in the above Naval News article):

Exail DriX H-8:

www.exail.com

DriX H-8 - Medium Range USV | Exail

DriX H-8 is made out of composite material. This means the USV is lighter than its Marine Steel or Aluminum counterparts.
www.exail.com www.exail.com

Saildrone Voyager:

News - Saildrone

News articles tagged with "Voyager"
www.saildrone.com www.saildrone.com

Metal Shark HSMUSV:

April 2nd, 2025: Metal Shark To Unleash Newest Unmanned Surface Vessel at Sea-Air-Space | Metal Shark

Jeanerette, LA – April 2nd, 2025: Louisiana-based boat builder Metal Shark is set to debut its latest unmanned surface vessel at the upcoming Sea-Air-Space
www.metalsharkboats.com www.metalsharkboats.com

OPT WAM-V:

oceanpowertechnologies.com

Unmanned Surface Vehicles

OPT offers unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) designed for offshore data collection, real-time surveillance, and complex marine operations.
oceanpowertechnologies.com oceanpowertechnologies.com

Two articles on NATO's ACT site on Task Force X:

 
www.naval-technology.com

Kraken receives sovereign investment for maritime expansion

Kraken Technology Group, a UK-based company, has received funding from strategic investors to support its expansion efforts.
www.naval-technology.com www.naval-technology.com

NATO and UK sovereign investment funds (plus venture capital) investing in UK USV company Kraken.

Which seems to fit the same pattern as the UK's investment in Tekever, which has resulted in the StormShroud stand-in jammer for the RAF.
 
www.navalnews.com

Royal Navy Details MRSS Requirements and Challenges - Naval News

The UK Royal Navy (RN) has detailed the requirements for its future Multi-Role Strike Ship (MRSS), requirements underlining the platform’s...
www.navalnews.com www.navalnews.com

"The ships are set to include a well dock, like previous amphibious vessels. However, Capt Powles explained, the dock will require integration and interfacing with larger and more complex insertion craft (that bring increased range and capability requirements) and with uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs)."

" “MRSS is being designed as a drone carrier …. [Operating] uncrewed systems in all environments – air, surface, sub-surface – is an integral part of this concept,” Brig Haw added."
 
Scott Kenny said:
What size well deck is the RN currently using? Can't they already accept something the size of an LCAC?
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The ALBION class can in theory accommodate an LCAC, if the dock is set up appropriately. The BAY class dock is pretty much shrink-wrapped around the LCU Mk.10.

Incidentally, 'well dock' is on my list of things that make me want to beat the Royal Navy around the head with a haddock, alongside 'Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear' and its ilk.
 
Yellow Palace said:
The ALBION class can in theory accommodate an LCAC, if the dock is set up appropriately. The BAY class dock is pretty much shrink-wrapped around the LCU Mk.10.
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Hopefully the MRSS has a well deck at least big enough to handle an LCAC, though that does kinda imply a pretty large ship if you want one that can make fleet speed.


Yellow Palace said:
Incidentally, 'well dock' is on my list of things that make me want to beat the Royal Navy around the head with a haddock, alongside 'Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear' and its ilk.
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Yeah, some of the terms of art are beyond clunky. I had to write up a whole "spaceship directions and vocabulary" file for my world building.
 
This seems to be a pretty vital development, if it works, it may be possible to reliably sweep minefield made up of mines with combined magnetic, acoustic and pressure sensors, rather then hunting for and destroying individual mines.

www.navalnews.com

Abeking & Rasmussen consortium selected for the EUROSWEEP program - Naval News

Abeking & Rasmussen have been selected for EU funding under the European Defence Fund (EDF) for the EUROSWEEP project "Autonomous Heavy Mine Sweeping"
www.navalnews.com www.navalnews.com
 
How do they sweep for pressure? I always thought that was the capability gap.
 
Scott Kenny said:
As I understand it, they drag a device through the water that makes a very large pressure wave. IIRC this was one of the major H53 missions, since they could drag that device around without making a pressure wave themselves.
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The AMCM sleds were for sweeping magnetic and acoustic influence mines. The MH-53 could also drag Oropsa sweeps for clearing moored contact mines.

Despite several tries at solutions for sweeping pressure mines, none have proved practical. Pressure mines have to be hunted, not swept.
 
TomS said:
The AMCM sleds were for sweeping magnetic and acoustic influence mines. The MH-53 could also drag Oropsa sweeps for clearing moored contact mines.

Despite several tries at solutions for sweeping pressure mines, none have proved practical. Pressure mines have to be hunted, not swept.
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I could have sworn my friend said they had a way to sweep pressure mines back in 1972.
 
Scott Kenny said:
I could have sworn my friend said they had a way to sweep pressure mines back in 1972.
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Possibly Washtenaw County (MSS-2), an LST converted for minimal manning (6 crew onboard, all topside during operations)with the tank deck and wing tanks pumped full of foam so she would stay afloat if a mine did detonate. She was used to check cleared lanes during the clearance of Haiphong in '73. Haiphong was mainly mined with magnetic/acoustic influence mines, but this sort of ship could also clear basic pressure mines by sailing over them. It's not really practical for sustained clearance ops, for obvious reasons. Even a heavily reinforced and buoyant hull can take only a limited number of mine hits without something critical breaking.

For my bonafides on the topic, I spent a couple of years supporting OPNAV N852, the Mine Warfare division within the OPNAV Expeditionary Warfare branch (It is now N952; the numbering changed after I left.) I wrote at least one of their annual Mine Warfare Plans, back during the first real push for new AMCM systems like RAMICS and ALMDS around 1999. I just dragged out my copy and there's nothing about sweeping pressure mines.

You can find a ton of patents for ideas to do this (towed flat plates, ring vortex generators, etc.) But none of them seem to work reliably and efficiently in practice. The best solution I know of so far is to go really slow to limit the pressure signature. If Leonardo has found a feasible method for sweeping pressure mines, it's a huge technical breakthrough.
 
TomS said:
Possibly Washtenaw County (MSS-2), an LST converted for minimal manning (6 crew onboard, all topside during operations)with the tank deck and wing tanks pumped full of foam so she would stay afloat if a mine did detonate. She was used to check cleared lanes during the clearance of Haiphong in '73. Haiphong was mainly mined with magnetic/acoustic influence mines, but this sort of ship could also clear basic pressure mines by sailing over them. It's not really practical for sustained clearance ops, for obvious reasons. Even a heavily reinforced and buoyant hull can take only a limited number of mine hits without something critical breaking.
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That would be the right timeframe, he has some stories about clearing Haiphong. And a few NorVN Navy patrol boats that hadn't gotten the message that the US was cleaning up their mess!
 

USV maker Seasats says drone came within meters of Chinese warship during Pacific transit​

breakingdefense.com

USV maker Seasats says drone came within meters of Chinese warship during Pacific transit - Breaking Defense

“It’s pretty common to pass within five or 10 miles of a tanker — in the middle of ocean, there’s really not much traffic going on,” said CEO Mike Flanigan. But “for 20 minutes, we basically were shadowed by a Chinese destroyer very closely.”
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com

Taiwan’s New Naval Drones Could Strike Any Chinese Invasion​

www.navalnews.com

Taiwan's New Naval Drones Could Strike Any Chinese Invasion - Naval News

Taiwan is now rapidly developing a naval drone capability. Several types have been seen being trialled with a range of armaments. These vessels, known as USVs, could enable Taiwan to disrupt and weaken an invasion fleet headed for the island.
www.navalnews.com www.navalnews.com
 
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Oddly narrow shape for a UUV but I cannot imagine it’s a weapon system. Status 6 works because it’s a nuke, and I doubt that’s where the PRC is going. Plus Status 6 is fired from a specialist submarine, and we haven’t seen a PLAN equivalent yet.
 
Josh_TN said:
Oddly narrow shape for a UUV but I cannot imagine it’s a weapon system. Status 6 works because it’s a nuke, and I doubt that’s where the PRC is going. Plus Status 6 is fired from a specialist submarine, and we haven’t seen a PLAN equivalent yet.
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Agreed. That's why I'm leaning UUV, not Sino-STATUS-6.
 

What The World Is About To Learn About China’s Extra-Large Underwater Drones​

www.navalnews.com

What The World Is About To Learn About China's Extra-Large Underwater Drones - Naval News

China's naval expansion continues to surprise onlookers. Less visible, until now, have been developments in underwater drones. That is about to change with an upcoming military parade in Beijing in September. Two new extra-large drone submarines (XLUUVs) will be showcased.
www.navalnews.com www.navalnews.com

Forest Green said:

USMC procures Amphibious Unmanned Ground Vehicles from Greensea IQ​

www.navalnews.com

USMC procures Amphibious Unmanned Ground Vehicles from Greensea IQ - Naval News

Greensea IQ has been awarded a $9 Million contract by the U.S. Marine Corps for the continued acquisition of Amphibious Unmanned Ground Vehicles (AUGVs).
www.navalnews.com www.navalnews.com
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Josh_TN said:
Plus Status 6 is fired from a specialist submarine, and we haven’t seen a PLAN equivalent yet.
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If it's nuclear powered like Poseidon, it wouldn't necessarily need a submarine to launch. Could also be stuffed into specialized containers which are submerged in specific location and recovered again when needed or just remain there until needed.

I'm also not sure it's a Poseidon style weapon, but I don't think launch platform is all that important tbh.
 

NEW YORK--During a U.S. naval test off the California coast last month, which was designed to showcase the Pentagon’s top autonomous drone boats, one vessel stalled unexpectedly.

As officials scrambled to fix a software glitch, another drone vessel smashed into the idling boat’s starboard side, vaulted over the deck, and crashed back into the water – an incident captured in videos obtained by Reuters.

The previously unreported episode, which involved two vessels built by U.S. defense tech rivals Saronic and BlackSea Technologies, is one of a series of recent setbacks in the Pentagon’s push to build a fleet of autonomous vessels, according to a dozen people familiar with the program. Weeks earlier, during a separate Navy test, the captain of a support boat was thrown into the water after another autonomous BlackSea vessel it was towing suddenly accelerated, capsizing the support boat, according to four people familiar with the matter. The captain was rescued and declined medical attention. The incident was first reported by Defense Scoop.

Both incidents stemmed from a combination of software failures and human error, including breakdowns in communication between onboard systems and external autonomous software, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to share sensitive information.

The Navy, Saronic and BlackSea declined to comment on the incidents.

[snip]
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