Unmanned maritime systemsU.S. Navy champions unmanned systems over, on, and under the sea

Published 18 August 2015

The presence of unmanned systems in the maritime military domain is growing, and the U.S. Navy has decided to make several organizational, and conceptual, changes in order to deal with unmanned systems in a more holistic fashion. Rear Adm. Robert P. Girrier has been named the Navy’s first director of unmanned weapon systems, and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced in April that he would appoint a new Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Unmanned Systems, “so that all aspects of unmanned — in all domains — over, on and under the sea and coming from the sea to operate on land — will be coordinated and championed.”

The presence of unmanned systems in the maritime military domain is growing. Here are a few recent examples:

  • On 17 December 2013, in a first for the Royal Navy in an operational theater, the Royal Navy launched a Boeing ScanEagle unmanned aerial system from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Cardigan Bay.
  • In May 2013, the Royal Australian Navy announced it would invest up to $3 billion on Northrop Grumman’s new MQ-4C Triton unmanned maritime patrol aircraft.
  • On 10 July 2013, Northrop Grumman’s X-47B fighter drone successfully landed on board the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77).
  • Northrop Grumman’s MQ-8 Fire Scouts are coming online, with the company’s MQ-8C Fire-X following its predecessor, now routinely used by the U.S. Navy.
  • The Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. recently expanded to include a Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research.
  • The U.S. Navy announced it would introduce unmanned mine-countermeasure vehciles by 2017.
  • General Dynamics’ Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) program produces workable unmanned submarines.
  • Before the end of the year, the Navy will deploy its first underwater drones from Virginia-class attack submarines.
  • In October 2014 the Navy announced that technology was developed which would allow any unmanned surface vehicle (USV) not only to protect Navy ships, but also, for the first time, autonomously “swarm” offensively on hostile vessels.
  • The Office of Naval Research (ONR) in April 2015 announced recent technology demonstrations of swarming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — part of the Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) program.

There are many more examples.

The U.S. Navy has decided to make several organizational, and conceptual, changes in order to deal with unmanned systems in a more holistic fashion.