One of the Navy's unmanned 11-meter rigid hulled inflatable boat
(RHIB) during a demonstration on the James River in Newport
News, Va.
Photo: AP
NORFOLK, Va. — Self-guided unmanned patrol boats that can
leave warships they’re protecting and swarm and attack potential
threats on the water could join the Navy’s fleet within a year,
defense officials say, adding the new technology could one day
help stop attacks like the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole
off Yemen.
The Arlington-based Office of Naval Research demonstrated the
autonomous swarm boat technology over two weeks in August on the
James River near Fort Eustis in Virginia — not far from one of
the Navy’s largest fleet concentration areas. It said the Navy
simulated a transit through a strait, just like the routine
passage of U.S. warships through the Strait of Hormuz in the
Persian Gulf.
In the demonstrations, as many as 13 small unmanned patrol
boats were escorting a high-value Navy ship. Then as many as
eight of the self-guided vessels broke off and swarmed around a
threat when a ship playing the part of an enemy vessel was
detected, the office said, calling the demonstrations a success.
Robert Brizzolara, program manager at the Office of Naval
Research, said that the boats can decide for themselves what
movements to make once they’re alerted to a threat and work
together to encircle or block the path of an opposing vessel,
depending on that vessel’s movements and those of other nearby
vessels.
The rigid-hull inflatable patrol boats can also fire .50
caliber machine guns if called upon to do so. However, a human
will always be the one to make the decision to use lethal force,
officials said. A sailor on a command ship would be in charge of
each of the unmanned boats and could take control over any of
the boats at any moment. And if communication between the
unmanned boats and the sailor overseeing them were ever broken,
the boat would automatically shut down.
“I never want to see the USS Cole happen again,” said Rear
Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of naval research, speaking about
the attack by a small boat packed with explosives that killed 17
sailors and injured 39 on that warship. “I can tell you the
systems we just put out on the water would’ve prevented the
Cole.”
Brizzolara said the technology is intended to allow sailors
who would ordinarily be manning such boats to stay out of harm’s
way while the self-guided boats seek to “deter, damage or
destroy” enemy vessels.
Modal Trigger
The small unmanned ships could prevent future terrorist
attacks like the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off
Yemen.Photo: AP
Officials said while the Cole bombing was not the sole
inspiration for the program, it was a significant one.
Researchers have been working on the technology for about a
decade. The kit can be placed on any small vessel and includes
sensors and radar that tells it what’s happening in the area.
Advanced algorithms help the boat plan its route and determine
its course of action and speed.
Klunder said that manpower can sometimes be an issue as to
why more patrol boats aren’t escorting larger ships, and that
potential enemies may try to outnumber those boats. He said such
technology could put more protective boats in the water, freeing
up sailors for key roles aboard ship.
“We’ve really put our sailors back where they need to be
anyway, which is back manning our combat systems, manning our
weapons systems, steering our ships,” Klunder said.
Klunder said the technology should be rolled out to fleet
commanders within a year. He said the parts for the small,
transportable kit cost about $2,000 and can be applied to
existing patrol boats present at Navy installations and aboard
many large warships.
The Navy said some of the components were adapted for from
technology originally developed by NASA for the Mars Rover
spaceflight programs. What made the August demonstration so
important is that it showed that numerous boats could coordinate
with each other, Klunder noted.
He said it’s the first time the technology has ever been
employed with more than one or two boats. And he spoke of
possibly wider applications in the future outside military use.
“This is something that you might find not only just on our
naval vessels, we could certainly see this utilized to protect
merchant vessels, to protect ports and harbors, used also to
protect offshore oil rigs,” Klunder said.
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