UUV for the Northwest Passage?

[Kirkhill]

Boeing is announcing a 20 foot long Unmanned Underwater Vehicle that can roam independently for 60 hours after launching from a standard 21" torpedo tube, trail a submarine contact and return to a moving submarine and redock through the launch tube.  This would make it compatible with our Victorias and considerably enhance their arctic capabilities.


How much easier would it be to launch and recover from a ship (such as the planned ice-breakers) or even a shore base (such as Resolute or perhaps Cambridge Bay)?  Would that effectively plug up the passage? Would the Americans sell it to us?  Would we have to develop something similar independently?  Would we need to be constrained by the 21" diameter if we don't launch from subs.

Boeing Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Indicates Compatibility, Utility with U.S. Navy Submarines
 
 
(Source: Boeing Co.; issued April 5, 2006)
 
 
ST. LOUIS --- Boeing has successfully completed a second round of at-sea tests of its Long-term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS), a 20-foot unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) designed to be launched, torpedo-style, from Los Angeles- and Virginia-class submarines to survey underwater objects for up to 60 hours. 

Originally planned for use in detecting tethered and bottom mines, the vehicle is designed to gather data and, upon completion, to home and dock to the submarine's 60-foot robotic arm for recovery back through the torpedo launch tube, enabling operators to retrieve data collected and prepare the vehicle for another launch. The vehicle's intelligence gathering capabilities have been sequentially tested and validated. 

Most recently, repeated homing tests were conducted with slightly varied configurations to the LMRS vehicle. The tests concluded with an LMRS vehicle successfully docking with the submarine. 

"We proved that it is possible for a heavyweight-class UUV to autonomously perform complex maneuvers, overcome hydrodynamic forces and successfully dock to a submarine while both are underway," said Tom Jones, director of Marine Systems, the program area of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems that is under contract to the U.S. Navy for the LMRS system. "No other UUV has been put through the strenuous test conditions or achieved the level of autonomy of the Boeing LMRS vehicle." 

During the first series of tests conducted in September 2005, the LMRS successfully performed a full impulse launch, transited away to a station-keeping location and trailed the submarine. It was then commanded to the surface for recovery. 

"Our advanced acoustic and autonomous control technologies are pivotal to the operation of the LMRS vehicle," Jones said. "The vehicle's forward-looking sonar, used for obstacle avoidance, tracking and mine-like object recognition, has been successfully demonstrated. We've also successfully demonstrated submarine-to-UUV commands as well as the performance of the LMRS sonar system as it homes in on the submarine during the final approach to the submarine's recovery arm." 


A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.8 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services. 

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http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?session=dae.16882086.1133972074.Q5cKasOa9dUAAFC2ZcA&modele=jdc_34

Reproduced here under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Interesting idea.  I wonder if it needs to have a GPS fix somewhere within it's 60 hour sortie cycle?  That may be a bit of a showstopper under the ice.

 

[Cdn Blackshirt]

I'd rather buy the Raytheon UCSS and place it at all the choke points not only in the North, but also on the east and west coasts.


M. 

Link:  http://www.raytheon.com/products/ucss/

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I'd rather buy the Raytheon UCSS and place it at all the choke points not only in the North, but also on the east and west coasts.

Would this work in the Arctic, where it is often fairly shallow and the bottom is frequently scoured by icebergs?

 

[Cdn Blackshirt]

I have no idea how rugged the construction is and if you can at least partially bury components to protect them or not....

That being said, the idea of having 100% knowledge of all vessels transiting through those areas should be our objective.



Matthew. 

 

[Kirkhill]

SKT:

Very valid point on the NAV issue.  I wonder if there isn't some other way to assist under the ice navigation - acoustic versions of lighthouses or LORAN stations?.  We don't need to be stealthy on our on territory surely?  On the other hand I understand that unlike radio and light sound tends to bend, flex and bounce so it might not be particularly useful either.  Microwave/Milliwave transmitters?  They seem to penetrate ice well enough to allow for mapping through the ice?

Matt:

Like SKT I wonder about the longevity of such a system under the ice - as well as the cost of acquisition, operation and maintenance.  For the Gulf of St-Lawrence and the Straits of Juan de Fuca, as well, possibly, as Davis Strait/Baffin Bay (deep water in the Bay if not the Strait but a potential choke-point for all NW Passage transiting vessels) the UCSS might make sense there.

 

[Navalsnpr]

Sounds like a good system.

However..DRDC has been working on the "Maritime Sensor Integration Experiment", otherwise called MARSIE which is intended to be employed as a means of surveillance of Canada’s coastlines. Basically buoys are deployed around the coast line and sit on the bottom of the ocean floor:

When a sound emitting source is detected, the buoy floats and reports into the control station with the information it has gathered.

Info from DRDC and other sources can be viewed at:

MARSIE Google Search

I figure we should give it a try prior to anything that is non-Canadian...

 

[Kirkhill]

Point taken Navalsnipr.

Thanks

Edit:  Maybe there is some synergy between MARSIE as a surveillance system and the UUV as a potential recce system.

 

[Navalsnpr]

Maybe there is some synergy between MARSIE as a surveillance system and the UUV as a potential recce system.

True... They could definitely co-exist and be employed together.

Where one lacks, the other would pick up the slack.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

I wonder if you could in the event of hostilities arm a UUV like is done for the UAV. I would think though in this case if you wanted to mount a MK46 you would need a bigger UUV....I do think using the UUV to help patrol the Arctic has a lot of potential.

 

[Kirkhill]

Ex-Dragoon:

I think you have mentioned in the past the possibilities with the CAPTOR mines carrying the Mk 46.  Perhaps, in addition to the recce role the UUV could just have a charge on board and turn the entire unit into a weapon - something like an underwater version of these Loitering Attack Missiles.

It seems to me there are lots of opportunities if Canadian crew safety is not a risk in an Unmanned vehicle - can't speak to the safety of the "opposition's" crews.