THE WATCH STAFF
The U.S. Navy is building a facility dedicated to testing unmanned surface and submarine vehicles at its California warfare center in Port Hueneme.
“These facilities will be the focal point of Navy learning and experimentation on the capabilities, operations and sustainment of unmanned maritime vehicle prototypes to inform future programs,” Capt. Pete Small, who leads the program office for unmanned maritime systems, said in a statement December 14, 2021, from the Navy Sea Systems Command.
Some of the systems destined for Port Hueneme include the Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV), as well as the Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV) and Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle (LUSV), according to a December 15 report on the military news website Breaking Defense.
Boeing is manufacturing five XLUUVs, or Orcas, which are based on the company’s Echo Voyager XLUUV prototype, pictured. The Orca’s potential capabilities include mine countermeasures, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare and strike missions, according to the website Naval Technology.
The XLUUV will be 51 feet (15.6 meters) long and capable of continuous operation for 6,500 nautical miles (12,038 kilometers), according to a 2019 story in USNI News, which cited the Navy.
Small’s office is also launching the Rapid Autonomy Integration Lab, a software developer responsible for ensuring the various technologies of the unmanned fleet will seamlessly work together, Breaking Defense reported.
The Navy broke ground for the testing facility on December 8. It also completed modifications to an existing building that will house the XLUUVs and testing personnel, according to Breaking Defense.
The Navy is seeking to transform the makeup of its fleets to include a smaller proportion of larger ships (such as large-deck aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and large amphibious ships), a larger proportion of smaller ships (such as frigates, corvettes and smaller amphibious ships), and a new third tier of LUSVs, according to a December 9 report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
The Navy envisions LUSVs as being 200 feet to 300 feet long and having full-load displacements, making them the size of a corvette (a ship larger than a patrol craft and smaller than a frigate), according to the CRS.
The Navy also recently tested a sailboat-style drone in the Gulf of Aqaba off Jordan.
The Saildrone Explorer, pictured, is a 23-foot-long, 16-foot-tall USV reliant on wind power for propulsion, according to a December 13, 2021, news release. The vessel contains solar-powered sensors for enhancing maritime domain awareness.
IMAGE CREDITS: BOEING, CPL. DEANDRE DAWKINS/U.S. ARMY