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Yesterday, the ongoing disruption of shipping in the Red Sea took an interesting turn. The Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV), a threat well known to anyone who has operated in the Gulf in the last few years – and very well known to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, some of whom have taken up residency on the bottom as a result – made its appearance in the southern Red Sea. So far, details are scant. Vice Admiral Cooper, the US Fifth Fleet commander based in Bahrain, said: “This was a one-way attack, unmanned surface vessel that had launched from Houthi-controlled territory,...

Suspected Ukrainian Explosive Sea Drone Made From Recreational Watercraft Parts By: H I Sutton October 11, 2022 3:44 PM • Updated: October 11, 2022 4:38 PM Sutton Image used with permissionA small, unmanned watercraft of unknown origin washed up from the Black Sea on the shore of Crimea, near Russia’s naval base in Sevastopol, late last month.Pictures posted on Russian social media show what appears to be a small, novel surface drone made from commercial watercraft parts laden with explosives that could explain recent Russian Navy trends to keep their warships in port over the last three weeks.The unmanned surface...

The multi-role combat vessel will act as a "mothership" for unmanned systems. (Illustration: Rafa Estrada) SINGAPORE: Not long ago, a warship’s superiority was defined by how powerful the guns on its deck were. Then, as weapons evolved, how far its missiles could go. Now, with wars increasingly being fought hundreds of kilometres apart, it has become a case of spotting the enemy before it spots you. “We are reaching a stage where who sees first, who sees fastest, actually wins,” Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) head of naval operations Cheong Kwok Chien told Channel NewsAsia in an exclusive interview on...

D3000 This crudely made model of the D3000 gives us a vague idea of the concept: a trimaran tumblehome hull, with armament that includes autocannons and anti-ship missiles, as well as launching tubes for small unmanned underwater vehicles, torpedoes, or mines. by78 At the turn of the 20th century, the great powers competed to build the modern-day battleship. Today, a new arms race may be breaking out, this time with robotic warships. The D3000 is a 98-foot-long, stealthy robotic trimaran warship designed to operate autonomously for months. Notably, this system—which appears to be tagged for export—is being offered by the...

Elbit Systems’ 12-meter experimental Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), dubbed Seagull, has been busy testing new capabilities and control concepts in recent months. The idea is that a small swarm of these craft—well, just two right now—can be controlled from a single workstation, deployed either ashore or on a ship. From there, tasks such as harbor patrol and force protection, mine detection, search and rescue and even anti-submarine warfare can be conducted with maximum efficiency. The Seagull’s semi-autonomous control concept, long endurance (up to 96 hours of runtime), advanced sensor suite, and ease of adaptation could allow it to be a...

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Tuesday unveiled the latest addition to its line of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) -- a combat marine system named KATANA for homeland security, Xinhua reported. KATANA's features include autonomous navigation and a collision avoidance system, and it is fitted with various payloads including electro-optic and infrared cameras, line-of-sight and none-line-of-sight communication, radar and weapon systems, the state-owned IAI said in a statement. IAI said the craft, developed by its Malam factory, supports a wide range of missions -- protection of exclusive economic zones (EEZ), maritime borders and offshore gas rigs and pipelines, as well as port...

Revamped Navies On Display At Euronaval By Christina Mackenzie, Pat Toensmeier, Robert Wall Paris, Paris, Paris The future of naval warfare continues to tack toward smaller vessels, littoral operations and security missions. Add to this the budget constraints most navies are working with and the need for multimission capabilities, and itÂ’s clear that much of the emerging naval technology is being directed at these needs. This was apparent at the biennial Euronaval exhibition here Oct. 25-29. Companies displayed expertise in major capital programs, whether ships, weapons or aircraft. But most stressed the ability to tailor existing systems to reduced budgets...

Navy to soon declare unmanned craft operational for patrols Oct. 4, 2009 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST The Israel Navy plans to begin using unmanned naval craft in the coming months for patrols along the Mediterranean coast, senior IDF officers said on Sunday. Called unmanned surface vehicles, the ships are operated by remote control from a land-based station and are highly maneuverable, allowing them to conduct a wide range of missions, including patrols of the coast, without endangering navy personnel. One system that the navy has already purchased is the Protector, which was developed by Rafael Advanced Systems Ltd....

The surface warfare module for the U.S. Navy's new LCS (Littoral Combat Ships) will contain an unusual collection of weapons. The only familiar item will be a MH-60R (a navalized Blackhawk) helicopter, armed with a 12.7mm machine-gun and Hellfire missiles (with a range of 8 kilometers). There will be three other aircraft, all RQ-8A Fire Scout UAVs. Each of these is a 1.5 ton unmanned helicopter, that will be armed with 70mm laser guided DAGR missiles. These 25 pound missiles have a range of six kilometers. There will be two 23 foot long Spartan USVs (unmanned surface vehicles), each armed...

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard have expressed interest in the 30-ft.-long Protector, which comes mounted with a machine gun and could be retrofitted for commercial use. Robots versus pirates -- it's not as stupid, or unlikely, as it sounds. Piracy has exploded in the waters near Somalia, where this past week United States warships have fired on two pirate skiffs, and are currently in pursuit of a hijacked Japanese-owned vessel. At least four other ships in the region remain under pirate control, and the problem appears to be going global: The International Maritime Bureau is tracking a 14-percent increase...

Rafael markets “Protector” unmanned boat in US The unmanned naval patrol vehicle is the only one of its kind in the world Ran Dagoni, Washington 25 Jun 06 17:03 Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. launched one of its largest marketing efforts in the US last week for its Protector unmanned naval patrol vehicle to the US Navy and Department of Homeland Security. The Protector is the first boat of its kind in the world. Rafael USA VP business development Dr. Patrick Bar-Avi, a senior company engineer, told “Globes” that the Protector held its first performance demonstration at Tampa Bay, Florida,...

Increased attention to homeland security has resulted in a new focus on protecting the nearly 400 US ports. MRV International, an innovative marine technology company, is providing state-of-the-art software and hardware for robotic USVs (unmanned surface vessels) to man the US's harbours and waterways. Operating as autonomous marine robotic platforms, the USVs use MRV's new-generation software for remote command and control, navigation, route planning, event and crisis management, onboard diagnostics and other functions. Linked with broadband wireless telemetry, the USVs can be operated from virtually anywhere in the world via the Internet. To identify terrorism threats, the USVs can be...