DARPA Aims to Develop a ‘Sea Train’ of Unmanned Warships – By Brandi Vincent (Defense One) / Jan 10 2020
The Pentagon’s research arm is looking for technologies for a new class of long-distance unmanned surface vessels.
The U.S. military is exploring the viability of unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, to conduct a range of dangerous cross-ocean missions without a crew on board. But while the smaller, versatile watercraft can be useful for tasks involving surveillance, logistics, electronic and expeditionary warfare and offensive operations, their size, shape and other components have proven at times to limit the vessels’ ability to endure choppy waves.
According to a broad agency announcement unveiled in late 2019 and released this week, the Pentagon’s research arm aims to improve the long-range operational capabilities of the Navy and Marine Corps’ USVs by creating “sea trains” of four or more physically connected vessels, or vessels that aren’t connected but sail in coordinated formations. The ultimate goal is to develop systems of smart, crewless warships that can travel thousands of ocean miles and perform their own duties, all while “exploiting wave-making resistance reductions.”
“The [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] Sea Trains program seeks to revolutionize the next generation of unmanned surface vessels,” officials said in the announcement.
Through the program, DARPA envisions the development of a four-vessel-or-more system that can persist through arduous transits of about 7,480 miles, then disaggregate and conduct their own tasks, or “independent yet collaborative operations consisting of transits, loiters, and sprints in varied sea state conditions,” for about 1,150 miles. The vessel will then reassemble for transit as the connected Sea Train for another nearly 7,500-mile journey—all without human intervention. The agency is open to any technical approaches that proposers wish to offer but highlighted three that could potentially achieve the overall concept. Officials recommend fleets of connected or connectorless Sea Trains that essentially create a mid-body for the vessel to decrease wave-making resistance while also allowing for the vessels to separate and conduct tactical missions independently. The agency also suggests “formation sea trains,” or a fleet made up of four or more vessels that travel closely and exploit wave interference between one another while in transit.
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