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28MTROctober2011 UMS. In addition, there is significant interest from defense and security governments to gather environmental data and create models, make predic- tions, and assess operational environ- ments. This is especially true for special operations, expeditionary warfare, and anti-submarine warfare. Countering Underwater IED UMS can significantly mitigate thethreat of underwater IED attached to piers, walls, docks, and ships? hulls. It is reasonable to assume that UMVs will be increasingly deployed in ports and harbors for a variety of security and defense missions. ROVs already scan ships? hulls to search for bombs and even cracks in the structure, dou- bling as security and safety enhancers- increasing system availability while being 5-10 times quicker than divers. USVs will routinely patrol harbors, detect underwater ?intruders?, and detect suspicious activity. UUVs will swim in tankers? oil to detect if a bomb was hidden among the crude oil.Protecting Infrastructure Refineries, desalination plants, and offshore oil rigs are threatened assets that organized groups are known to target. USVs and UUVs are the most natural solutions from both a techni- cal and an economic perspective; they will provide persistent, cost-effective services with increasing spectrum (from monitoring, and detection to possible active defense). Such systems can be the solution for needs like those expressed by the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, who has stated their concern to protect their assets so they can satisfy the growing natural gas extraction and processing. Equally, such autonomous systems can provide the security required to maintain the integrity of underseacables for communication which are vital to economies since we rely on information and its communicationfor most of our activities. Furthermore, USVs and UUVs can actively participate in the protection and assessment of bridges, dams,canals and harbors and other sensitive structures that need to be checked regularly. As we have seen, the autonomous maritime domain offers almostunlimited possibilities, yet it is not monitored or understood well. As threats, budgets, technologies and strategies evolve, so should our ability to explore, analyze and forecast UMSs? rapid evolution. Reasoned insight and foresight will vastly improve the ability of researchers, developers, vendors and users to make the most, operationallyand economically, out of this new wave. U-Ranger USV by Calzoni.MTR#8 (18-33):MTR Layouts 10/10/2011 2:09 PM Page 28