Navy Plans To Deploy A Submarine Drone Squadron By 2020... Do You Think There Will Be Any Foreseeable Issues With This?

2015-10-28T00:47:23-04:00

The highly autonomous underwater vehicles could be sent to scout ahead of attack submarines, or to guard valuable undersea targets. Next spring, the LDUUV (Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle) is scheduled to demonstrate its open-ocean navigation abilities by sailing from San Francisco to San Diego.
I think this is pretty freakin cool!!! What are your thoughts?

"The U.S. Navy plans to deploy a squadron of underwater drones within the next four years, including the Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, or LDUUV, a 10-foot, highly autonomous, and very, very yellow subdrone, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said today.

It’s not yet clear just what missions will be performed by the LDUUV, which resembles a giant robot canary fish crossed with a sausage. Some Navy watchers expect it to boost attack submarines’ intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, but officials with the Office of Naval Research pushed back against such speculation. “Right now, it’s just an empty platform with some innovative power production things that will help increase its endurance,” one official said.

Mabus made the announcement at Tuesday’s AUVSI Unmanned Systems Defense 2015 conference, the day after the New York Times reported on Pentagon concerns about Russian submarine movements near critical undersea data cables.

Rear Adm. Mat Winter, the chief of U.S. Naval Research, unveiled the giant yellow submersible in April at the Navy League’s Sea, Air, Space expo. At the time, Winter underscored the Navy’s need for an unmanned, underwater vehicle will be able to deploy for weeks, months, and years.

“I am continuously amazed with the underwater breakthrough technologies in power, power generation, and navigation and sense and avoid,” Winter said. “When people say, ‘I can’t see that happening. There’s no way that can be,’ I say, ‘Excellent! Put that on ONR’s list.’”

Looks like the Navy has done just that. The ONR official said that Mabus’s announcement came as a “surprise,” but that it was something that they “had been working toward.”

Mabus said the LDUUV would help the Navy develop “increased subsurface endurance and autonomy” — read that to mean subdrones that can operate with minimal human intervention close to vital areas and targets. The LDUUV currently has an undersea endurance of 30 days but the eventual goal is to stretch that to years. (Original builder specifications can be found here.)

“These systems are affordable and rapidly deployable worldwide. They’ve already been operational and served as critical enablers and game-changers for mine-hunting missions, such as those that will be conducted aboard [littoral combat ship]. We plan to deploy LDUUV from an exclusively UUV squadron on an independent mission by 2020,” the secretary said.

Next spring, the LDUUV is scheduled to demonstrate its open-ocean navigation abilities by sailing from San Francisco to San Diego."

Navy Plans To Deploy A Submarine Drone Squadron By 2020

The highly autonomous underwater vehicles could be sent to scout ahead of attack submarines, or to guard valuable undersea targets.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 28 at 2015 12:49 AM

2015-10-28T00:49:36-04:00

As soon as one loses contact with its control, there is going to be a new knee-jerk reaction to go find it, possibly at the expense of Sailors. We see it when a UAS goes down.

Response by SN Greg Wright made Oct 28 at 2015 1:39 AM

2015-10-28T01:39:56-04:00

MSgt Curtis Ellis Drones are the way it's going to be. For now, it's individual, controlled drones. Eventually, it will be swarms of autonomous drones, whether it's ships, planes, subs...soldiers. I predict that within a 100 years or so manned vehicles of war will no longer be the norm. Further down the line, as we ramp up nano-tech and manufacturing processes, you'll see clouds and clouds of ever-smaller drones, capable of warfare in any medium (land, air, water).

Sounds like sci-fi, I know. Just watch, though. It'll happen.

Response by SSgt Alex Robinson made Oct 28 at 2015 7:28 AM

2015-10-28T07:28:54-04:00

This is an interesting bit of technology that should be explored. If we can do it with aircraft why can't we do it with ships and submarines?

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 28 at 2015 8:01 AM

2015-10-28T08:01:30-04:00

.... I don't worry about our drone ... I am starting to worry about ... others

Anyone remember the "divine wind" .... couple with this tech .... that will change the warfare on or in any ocean ....

Response by LCDR Jeffery Dixon made Oct 28 at 2015 10:14 AM

2015-10-28T10:14:17-04:00

I know a few ports to send it up.

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Oct 28 at 2015 10:14 AM

2015-10-28T10:14:49-04:00

Anyone knowledgeable with submarine capabilities and limits can easily see how this would be an improvement in our undersea operations. First, I would change the color and limit its acoustical profile. Hope the submersible has robotic capabilities. One big limit is the need for operations outside the pressure hull of the submarine.

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Oct 28 at 2015 10:43 AM

2015-10-28T10:43:02-04:00

I'm very concerned about all the pushes for autonomous vehicles. Remember the movie Westworld, where nothing can go wooorrrrnnnnngggg...

Plus the nature of underwater comms is such that boats like this would not be able to provide much in the way of feedback to the base, so its uses might be limited...

Response by PO1 Glenn Boucher made Oct 28 at 2015 2:05 PM

2015-10-28T14:05:57-04:00

I think this is just another example of using technology to our advantage.
Just as with the flying drones there are going to be some growing pains and there are going to be some underwater drones lost for a variety of reasons.
I think overall this will be a great asset and not only for the Navy, civilian merchant vessels could be warned about something in a certain area and thus avoid possible dangerous situations.

Response by PO2 Steven Erickson made Oct 28 at 2015 6:38 PM

2015-10-28T18:38:12-04:00

The damn'd thing is yellow.

What does THAT tell you about the brainiacs that are working this project...