Manticore
RETIRED MOD
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 10,115
- Reaction score
- 114
- Country
- Location
All the LCS needs now is a sub-hunting guide to help it avoid another underwater threat, and it just so happens DARAPA's lining one of those up as well. The ACTUV sub-tracking drone is taking shape at SAIC, but no word yet on where it will be assigned once it's ready for deployment.
Source: http://www.defence.pk/forums/naval-...-critical-defensive-boosts.html#ixzz2Mj1VP25x
Some of us have been feeding advice to DARPA's ACTUV sub-tracking drone project for more than a year, but we haven't had a in-depth look at how the autonomous ship will go about its business, especially when chasing very silent diesel-electric subs. Thankfully, craft designer SAIC has stepped in with a detailed video tour. If there's suspicions that a diesel sub is in the area, the US Navy can deploy sonar buoys that give the ACTUV an inkling of where to go first. After that, the drone takes over with both long-range and short-range sonar. The vehicle can gauge the intent of ships in its path (with human failsafes) and hound a target for up to 13 weeks -- either letting the Navy close in for an attack or, ideally, spooking the sub into avoiding conflict in the first place. While ACTUV won't hit the waves for years, there's a promise that we'll always know about underwater threats and deal with them on our own terms.
SAIC shows how DARPA's submarine-tracking drone ship finds its silent targets (video)
Scientists Developing Sub-Tracking Sea Drone
Potential adversaries have shown an increasing ability to build quiet diesel-electric submarines, and the Pentagon has had enough.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a contract to McLean, Va.-based Science Applications International Corp. to develop an unmanned vessel that can track these subs for months at a time over thousands of kilometers.
Under the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program, SAIC will design and construct the sea drone and demonstrate its ability to keep watch on quiet subs with minimal input from humans. If successful, the program could help reduce manpower and other costs associated with current anti-submarine warfare operations. It also could lead to ship designs that do away with constraints associated with conventional naval architecture such as layout, accessibility and crew support systems.
“Our goal is to transition an operational game-changer to the Navy,” DARPA Program Manager Scott Littlefield said in a prepared statement. “This should create an asymmetry to our advantage, negating a challenging submarine threat at one-tenth [an adversary’s] cost of building subs.”
The program will combine advanced software, enough autonomy that the vessel can operate safely in accordance with maritime laws and sensors powerful enough to continuously track the quietest of subs, officials said.
The unmanned ship would not actually hunt subs. That job could be handled by a network of small unmanned underwater vehicles DARPA is developing that scan upwards from deep in the ocean. After enemy vessels are found, ACTUV would be employed to follow them wherever they went without putting sailors in danger.
An operational prototype is scheduled to be tested at sea in 2015.
Source: http://www.defence.pk/forums/naval-...-critical-defensive-boosts.html#ixzz2Mj1VP25x
Some of us have been feeding advice to DARPA's ACTUV sub-tracking drone project for more than a year, but we haven't had a in-depth look at how the autonomous ship will go about its business, especially when chasing very silent diesel-electric subs. Thankfully, craft designer SAIC has stepped in with a detailed video tour. If there's suspicions that a diesel sub is in the area, the US Navy can deploy sonar buoys that give the ACTUV an inkling of where to go first. After that, the drone takes over with both long-range and short-range sonar. The vehicle can gauge the intent of ships in its path (with human failsafes) and hound a target for up to 13 weeks -- either letting the Navy close in for an attack or, ideally, spooking the sub into avoiding conflict in the first place. While ACTUV won't hit the waves for years, there's a promise that we'll always know about underwater threats and deal with them on our own terms.
SAIC shows how DARPA's submarine-tracking drone ship finds its silent targets (video)
Scientists Developing Sub-Tracking Sea Drone
Potential adversaries have shown an increasing ability to build quiet diesel-electric submarines, and the Pentagon has had enough.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a contract to McLean, Va.-based Science Applications International Corp. to develop an unmanned vessel that can track these subs for months at a time over thousands of kilometers.
Under the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program, SAIC will design and construct the sea drone and demonstrate its ability to keep watch on quiet subs with minimal input from humans. If successful, the program could help reduce manpower and other costs associated with current anti-submarine warfare operations. It also could lead to ship designs that do away with constraints associated with conventional naval architecture such as layout, accessibility and crew support systems.
“Our goal is to transition an operational game-changer to the Navy,” DARPA Program Manager Scott Littlefield said in a prepared statement. “This should create an asymmetry to our advantage, negating a challenging submarine threat at one-tenth [an adversary’s] cost of building subs.”
The program will combine advanced software, enough autonomy that the vessel can operate safely in accordance with maritime laws and sensors powerful enough to continuously track the quietest of subs, officials said.
The unmanned ship would not actually hunt subs. That job could be handled by a network of small unmanned underwater vehicles DARPA is developing that scan upwards from deep in the ocean. After enemy vessels are found, ACTUV would be employed to follow them wherever they went without putting sailors in danger.
An operational prototype is scheduled to be tested at sea in 2015.
Last edited by a moderator:
