Tag Archives: Orca XLUUV

Middle East Will Be Next Test Bed for Drone Ships, Aircraft as Navy Expands Unmanned Effort

Middle East Will Be Next Test Bed for Drone Ships, Aircraft as Navy Expands Unmanned Effort

USVs Ranger and Nomad unmanned vessels underway in the Pacific Ocean near the Channel Islands on July 3, 2021. US Navy Photo

Full of merchant traffic and security threats, the densely packed waterways of the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf will be a testing ground for the Navy’s push to make unmanned systems a practical part of the fleet, service leaders said on Wednesday. Read More

Navy: Large USV Will Require Small Crews for the Next Several Years

Navy: Large USV Will Require Small Crews for the Next Several Years

Ghost Fleet Ship Nomad arriving at Point Loma, Calif., on May 29, 2021. Image via Twitter

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The emerging fleet of U.S. military Large Unmanned Surface Vessels (LUSV) are set to navigate the open seas, avoid other vessels and carry out complex directives from a land-based command center over a secure commutations network. What they can’t do yet is pump their own gas. Read More

Navy Hopes to Deploy its Early Razorback UUVs Soon Even As Development Continues on Updated Capability

Navy Hopes to Deploy its Early Razorback UUVs Soon Even As Development Continues on Updated Capability

Operations Specialist First Class Sean McNamara launches the Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish for an initial underwater survey of Sweeper Cove on Adak Island in the Alaska’s Aleutian chain. EODMU 1 is providing expeditionary mine countermeasures support in support of Arctic Expeditionary Capabilities Exercise 2019. EODMU 1 provides operational EOD capabilities to include locating, identifying, rendering safe, exploiting, recovering, and disposing of all explosive ordnance. US Navy photo

The Navy plans to deploy the early models of its Razorback medium-sized unmanned underwater “as soon as we can” even as the service is in the midst of procuring an upgraded model. Read More

USV, UUV Squadrons Testing Out Concepts Ahead of Delivery of Their Vehicles

USV, UUV Squadrons Testing Out Concepts Ahead of Delivery of Their Vehicles

Sailors assigned to Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron 1 (UUVRON 1), mobilized with Undersea Rescue Command (URC), perform maintenance on a Bluefin-12D, an unmanned underwater vehicle, on board the Norwegian construction support vessel Skandi Patagonia on Nov. 25, 2017. URC is mobilized to support the Argentine government’s search and rescue efforts for the Argentine Navy diesel-electric submarine A.R.A San Juan (S 42). US Navy photo.

Development squadrons working with unmanned underwater and surface vehicles are moving out quickly to develop concepts of operations and human-machine interfaces, even as they’re still using prototypes ahead of the delivery of fleet USVs and UUVs, officials said this week. Read More