Littoral Operations

[Kirkhill]

Maybe not

British shipyard gearing up to build drone warships

The Navantia UK Appledore shipyard say they can build two LASV75 autonomous vessels at once.

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

Appledore Devon ready to build two LASV75 at a time and deliver two a year.

"The LASV75 is Navantia UK’s UK-designed large autonomous surface vessel, designed from the keel up as an uncrewed platform and combining size, range and speed with a modular, open-architecture design. Since its launch at the Combined Naval Event, the company says it has matured the concept and demonstrated the platform’s modularity, with configurations developed spanning anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, naval fires against land-based threats, and sensing, operational or combined roles, with the open architecture allowing a single vessel to be re-roled, even at sea, as operational demands change."

Navantia UK unveils LASV75 autonomous surface vessel concept

Navantia UK publicly unveiled a scale model of its new LASV75 large autonomous surface vessel concept during the Navy Leaders Combined Naval Event (CNE), held in Farnborough from 19-21 May.

www.navalnews.com

75 meters

1000 tonnes.

A crewless continental corvette.

 

[Kirkhill]

More of a demonstration than a raid.

A Ukrainian USV delivered a UGV to the beach at Kinburn Spit at the mouth of the Dniepr while a UAV observed and spotted. The Ukrainian UGV fired on a Russian position.

https://kyivindependent.com/a-new-era-of-war-begins-ukrainian-sea-ground-drone-team-up-for-combat-mission-on-kinburn-spit/

 

[Kirkhill]

Inside Virtual Warrior – the Royal Navy’s secret war game

UK Defence Journal became the first media outlet allowed inside Exercise Virtual Warrior, the Royal Navy's secret annual command exercise, where 240 personnel fought a two-week war in the High North from a camp on Salisbury Plain.

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

Can the Royals launch a force?

 

[daftandbarmy]

[URL unfurl="]https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/inside-virtual-warrior-the-royal-navys-secret-war-game/[/URL]

Can the Royals launch a force?

This is nothing new, and not really rocket surgery or 'top secret' I don't think We did many amphibious exercises like that in Norway and Denmark in the 80s, both Army and RM forces, and with other NATO countries involved as well.

I have no doubt they can do it these days too. It's great that they have a virtual trainer for this stuff now as we just learned OJT-style, which takes time and bumped knees. It is ironic that mountainous-amphibious-arctic operation is being trained for on a landlocked, temperate prairie, like Salisbury Plain, though

However, IMHO, the reality of 'Combined Operations' is that it's entirely dependent upon Naval and Air support. If they screw it up everyone is doomed, pretty much. You need the pukka ships, boats and planes to play with to get a real appreciation for what's involved, of course.

And you'd better hang on every word from the met people as ignoring the avalanche forecast, for example, can and does have dire results.

The avalanche accident at Vassdalen, Norway, 5 March 1986​

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0165232X88900602

 

[Kirkhill]

Extending the picket to the edge of the littoral with uncrewed "submarines" capable of launching Mk 48s and NSMs?

While the Pentagon's 80-ton drone submarine, the size of a subway car, is still officially a minelayer, Turkey unveiled a 17.8-ton one specced to fire the full-size torpedoes of a crewed boat and launch an anti-ship missile from underwater

The name comes from an old Turkic word for the sea, and the pitch behind it is blunter than the one behind most underwater drones. A lot of these machines are

www.autonocion.com

"While the Pentagon’s 80-ton drone submarine, the size of a subway car, is still officially a minelayer, Turkey unveiled a 17.8-ton one specced to fire the full-size torpedoes of a crewed boat and launch an anti-ship missile from underwater

"At the SAHA Expo defense fair in Istanbul this past May, state-owned defense firm STM unveiled Tengiz, an extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle built to do the deep work a crewed submarine does — intelligence runs, mine warfare, torpedo shots — with nobody on board. The specs STM released at the show put it at 11.2 meters (36.7 feet) long, 1.6 meters across, and 17.8 tons submerged, rated to operate below 400 meters and stay down for more than 20 days without any outside support."

....

Transportable in a 40 ft sea can.

....

Corollary comms technology

USV designed as a deepsea communications node

A consortium of German companies and research institutes has developed a system for deepsea surveys using autonomous underwater and surface vehicles

www.rivieramm.com

"The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is funding the Subsea Monitoring via Intelligent Swarms (SMIS) project*. The project partners have developed specialised vehicles, including an unmanned surface vehicle (USV), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and a seabed station (SBS), which will operate as an intelligent team to accomplish various research missions. Full autonomous deepsea operations could last several days when the AUVs can recharge at the SBS.

"The central element of the SMIS system is the autonomously acting USV, which would serve as a communications node between the surface and the underwater elements. The vehicle would provide geo-references (global satellite based position data) to the underwater vehicles via an ultra-short baseline acoustic link, and send status reports on the complete system to an operator via satellite communications. The USV is designed as an ocean-going, shallow submerged vehicle with water surface-piercing towers. It should provide reliable acoustic communications and acoustic positioning even in heavy sea states. The USV was tested in the Baltic Sea in February this year."

...

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Underwater Vehicles | Cellula Robotics | Technology

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cellula.com

 

[brihard]

Extending the picket to the edge of the littoral with uncrewed "submarines" capable of launching Mk 48s and NSMs?

While the Pentagon's 80-ton drone submarine, the size of a subway car, is still officially a minelayer, Turkey unveiled a 17.8-ton one specced to fire the full-size torpedoes of a crewed boat and launch an anti-ship missile from underwater

The name comes from an old Turkic word for the sea, and the pitch behind it is blunter than the one behind most underwater drones. A lot of these machines are

www.autonocion.com

"While the Pentagon’s 80-ton drone submarine, the size of a subway car, is still officially a minelayer, Turkey unveiled a 17.8-ton one specced to fire the full-size torpedoes of a crewed boat and launch an anti-ship missile from underwater

"At the SAHA Expo defense fair in Istanbul this past May, state-owned defense firm STM unveiled Tengiz, an extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle built to do the deep work a crewed submarine does — intelligence runs, mine warfare, torpedo shots — with nobody on board. The specs STM released at the show put it at 11.2 meters (36.7 feet) long, 1.6 meters across, and 17.8 tons submerged, rated to operate below 400 meters and stay down for more than 20 days without any outside support."

....

Transportable in a 40 ft sea can.

....

Corollary comms technology

USV designed as a deepsea communications node

A consortium of German companies and research institutes has developed a system for deepsea surveys using autonomous underwater and surface vehicles

www.rivieramm.com

"The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is funding the Subsea Monitoring via Intelligent Swarms (SMIS) project*. The project partners have developed specialised vehicles, including an unmanned surface vehicle (USV), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and a seabed station (SBS), which will operate as an intelligent team to accomplish various research missions. Full autonomous deepsea operations could last several days when the AUVs can recharge at the SBS.

"The central element of the SMIS system is the autonomously acting USV, which would serve as a communications node between the surface and the underwater elements. The vehicle would provide geo-references (global satellite based position data) to the underwater vehicles via an ultra-short baseline acoustic link, and send status reports on the complete system to an operator via satellite communications. The USV is designed as an ocean-going, shallow submerged vehicle with water surface-piercing towers. It should provide reliable acoustic communications and acoustic positioning even in heavy sea states. The USV was tested in the Baltic Sea in February this year."

...

Canadian analogs provided by Cellula Robotics

Underwater Vehicles | Cellula Robotics | Technology

Advanced engineering solutions for underwater exploration. Trust Cellula Robotics for reliable, innovative technology.

cellula.com

Potentially an acoustic mesh network, as it were?

Autonomous undersea ops will definitely pose challenges for ‘human in the loop’ policies.

 

[Kirkhill]

Potentially an acoustic mesh network, as it were?

Autonomous undersea ops will definitely pose challenges for ‘human in the loop’ policies.

Physical comms network?

UUVs as runners? Rapidly relocating between nodes with messages onboard?

Longer lag time but near real time if the legs are short enough.

...

Edit - I note that the Turkish boat runs a schnorkel/mast. Effectively a semi-submersible? It could loiter quietly just under the surface, drifting, mast extended.