INFLATABLE, UNMANNED HUNTER

In the not-​​too-​​distant future, the U.S. Navy could be hunt­ing subs and pro­tect­ing ships using robotic, inflat­able boats. That’s the plan, at least, from a team of American and Israeli defense con­trac­tors.
The Navy and Coast Guard already use a bunch of rigid-​​hull inflat­able boats to zip across choppy waters and brings SEALs to shore. The ser­vices have “high hopes” that unmanned inflat­a­bles could han­dle even more jobs, C4ISR Journal says. Like spot­ting mines and subs, for example.

The advan­tage of using an unmanned sur­face vehi­cle in these roles, Rear Adm. William Landay III noted, is that it will be able to oper­ate autonomously for an extended period of time per­haps 24 hours and at night, when the Navy nor­mally doesnt do tow­ing [sonar arrays] with heli­copters. We may not even find an enemy sub­ma­rine [but] it may keep him out of where you want, and in the lit­torals [coastal waters] that in many cases is just as good as find­ing him.

United Defense Industries and Haifa-​​based Rafael Armament Development Authority are try­ing to con­vince the Navy that their Protector unmanned sur­face vehi­cle is the right robo-​​boat for the job. The 30 to 35 foot-​​long Protector can skip across the seas at speeds of up to 40 knots. Day and night cam­eras, a laser range finder, and a 12.7 mm machine gun all come stan­dard. “A light pro­jec­tor, pub­lic address sys­tem and a micro­phone,” are optional, accord­ing to Defense Daily. The Israeli Navy is already try­ing one out, a Rafael spokesper­son tells DD.

March 31st, 2005 | Ships and Subs | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.