Page 26: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2024)

SUBSEA VEHICLES DEFENSE

Orca Extra Large Unmanned

Undersea Test Vehicle.

The Navy’s top of? cer wants more players on the ? eld

Unmanned Underwater

Systems = Force Multiplier

Source: Boeing

By Edward Lundquist peaking at the Surface Navy Association’s an- (i.e., a mix of ships that avoids ‘putting too many eggs into nual symposium in Crystal City, Virginia, on one basket’).”

Jan. 9, the new Chief of Naval Operations To meet that goal, the U.S. has a lot going on in the under-

Adm. Lisa Franchetti released her priorities sea domain, including unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), for “America’s War? ghting Navy,” and talked manned submarines, and torpedoes and other weapons.

Sabout putting “more players on the ? eld.” Maritime drones come in a variety of shapes and sizes to “We must think, act, and operate differently, leveraging meet a broad spectrum of requirements, such as surveillance wargaming and experimentation to integrate conventional ca- and environmental sensing; laying mines or ? nding mines; to pability with hybrid, unmanned, and disruptive technologies,” neutralizing enemy swimmers and blowing up targets. The she said. “Tomorrow’s battle? eld will be incredibly challeng- U.S. Navy’s efforts to develop, test and ? eld new autonomous ing and complex. To win decisively in that environment, our unmanned platforms and capabilities at sea spans a spectrum

Sailors must be the best war? ghters in the world with the best from small, hand-carried unmanned UUVs, to surface ship systems, weapons, and platforms to ensure we can defeat our and submarine launched torpedoes, to the extra-large UUVs, adversaries. We will put more players on the ? eld—platforms all the way to the manned submarine ? eet. that are ready with the right capabilities, weapons and sustain- ment, and people who are ready with the right skills, tools, Large UUVS training, and mindset.” The largest UUVs are the Boeing XLUUV and Snakehead

Getting more players onto the ? eld calls for a “distributed LDUUV.

? eet architecture” of both manned vessels and unmanned sys- The Navy accepted delivery its ? rst Extra Large Unmanned tems to spread the Navy’s capabilities over an increased num- Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) Test Asset System in December. ber of platforms. They are a force multiplier. The Boeing Orca XLUUV, designated XLE0, from the manu-

According to a report issued Dec. 20, 2023, by the Congres- facturer Boeing.

sional Research Service, the Navy is moving to a more distrib- In addition to the test vehicle, ? ve more Orcas are being uted ? eet architecture, “meaning a mix of ships that spreads built. A December 2023 news release from By Program Ex- the Navy’s capabilities over an increased number of platforms ecutive Of? ce Unmanned and Small Combatants, stated that and avoids concentrating a large portion of the ? eet’s overall XLE0 began in-water testing in Spring 2023 in Huntington capability into a relatively small number of high-value ships Beach, California. “Lessons learned from XLE0’s testing will 26 January/February 2024

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