Large underwater drone set for 2016 West Coast cruise

[jonathan]

ONR: Large underwater drone set for 2016 West Coast cruise
By David Larter, Staff writer 6:20 p.m. EDT April 16, 2015


The Navy's yellow submarine is about to sail — but no one lives there.

The Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, an experimental sub
built by the Office of Naval Research, is set for a sea voyage in 2016
from San Francisco to San Diego.

The drone sub is ONR's attempt to crack a persistent problem in the
development of underwater drones: the ability to operate autonomously
underwater for a long time, using its sensors, while navigating safely.

The head of ONR, Rear Adm. Mat Winter, told a crowd on the exhibition
floor at the Sea-Air-Space Expo that the drone, which the Navy will
start acquiring this year, can already operate for up to 30 days, but
the goals are much loftier.

"I'm talking power generation, fuel and battery technology, that can
approach months and years of underwater domain activity," Winter said.

But that's something the Navy is still figuring out. The test platform
on display at Sea-Air-Space is being run on a number of types of fuel
cells and power generation constructs as they work up extending the
underwater time, he said.

Winter said getting the LDUUV's longevity up — along with keeping it
from bumping into underwater obstacles, from submerged mountains to
fishing nets — are the goals for the program.

"We're doing various [test] runs to understand the best configuration,
best chemical reaction configuration, and fuel cell technology ... ONR
scientists are really making some groundbreaking headway on that."

Those capabilities will be put to a big test next summer, Winter said.

The Navy has a grandiose vision for the LDUUV. According to recent
requirements documents posted on the federal contracting database
FedBizOps, the Navy ultimately wants to use the LDUUV for a range of
missions from underwater reconnaissance and mine countermeasures to
launching aerial drones for surface reconnaissance.

The LDUUV is being designed to launch from a Virginia-class submarine's
torpedo tube, a littoral combat ship or a dry dock shelter, according to
the requirements.

The LDUUV would help backfill demands from combatant commanders for
attack submarine intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions,
said a retired submarine captain and UUV expert who spoke on background.

"When [Adm. Gary] Roughead was CNO he tasked ONR with creating a UUV
that could do 'real missions,' " the source said. "An SSN can go out for
45 to 60 days at a time, so that's what ONR is trying to do."

The source said the Navy needs to have realistic expectations of what
these drones can accomplish, given the complexities of navigating
underwater autonomously, the severe limitation on data transmission
between the sub and its controllers while submerged, and the difficulty
of creating enough power from either fuel cells or batteries to keep the
sub operating over long periods of time.

One option the Navy is exploring, the source said, is creating a network
of underwater data transmission stations, like telephone booths, that
the sub could navigate to and upload data from its sensors at a high
data transmission rate.

But all of that comes later, the source said, because right now the
focus is just getting LDUUV to operate without bumping into things.

"Right now they are trying to just build the truck," the source said.
"What they load onto it, that comes later."


http://www.defensenews.com/story/military/tech/2015/04/16/lduuv-test-san-fransisco-san-diego-2016/25839499/

[Nick Roberts]

In message <y_mdnVE2lZhihwXI...@giganews.com>

jonathan <WriteI...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> ONR: Large underwater drone set for 2016 West Coast cruise
> By David Larter, Staff writer 6:20 p.m. EDT April 16, 2015
>
>
> The Navy's yellow submarine is about to sail ˜ but no one lives
> there.

No doubt you think is relevant to TO. Would you care to explain why?

Or is it simply that the article used the word "complexity"?

--
Nick Roberts tigger @ orpheusinternet.co.uk

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which
can be adequately explained by stupidity.

[jonathan]

On 7/4/2015 4:59 PM, Nick Roberts wrote:
> In message <y_mdnVE2lZhihwXI...@giganews.com>
> jonathan <WriteI...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> ONR: Large underwater drone set for 2016 West Coast cruise
>> By David Larter, Staff writer 6:20 p.m. EDT April 16, 2015
>>
>>
>> The Navy's yellow submarine is about to sail ˜ but no one lives
>> there.
>
> No doubt you think is relevant to TO. Would you care to explain why?
>
> Or is it simply that the article used the word "complexity"?
>

Wrong ng again, not from complexity, but from the
shit happens department~!



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