Page 28: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2024)

SUBSEA VEHICLES DEFENSE

Knife? sh is a medium-class mine countermeasure UUV designed for deployment off the Littoral Combat Ship.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication

Specialist 1st Class Brian M. Brooks/RELEASED be applied to Orca XLUUV 1 through 5, which will be built (encapsulated torpedo) mine.” and delivered to the Navy in the future,” the release said. Also in the large category, the Snakehead is a tube-shaped

A Boeing press release said the Orca is “a new class of au- UUV, about four feet in diameter and eight feet long. The tonomous submarine that can perform long duration critical Navy refers to it as a “modular, recon? gurable, multi-mission missions to achieve undersea maritime dominance in chang- underwater vehicle deployed from submarine large ocean in- ing environments and contested waters.” terfaces, with a government-owned architecture, mission au-

The Orca XLUUV is a cutting-edge, autonomous, unmanned tonomy and vehicle software.” The preliminary design was diesel-electric submarine with a modular payload section to ex- done by Naval Undersea Warfare Center at Newport, and the ecute a variety of missions critical to enhancing the Navy’s un- plan was to hand off construction to a competitively-awarded dersea prowess. Con? gured to accommodate various payloads, prime contractor. The ? rst Snakehead was “christened” at the Orca XLUUV allows for the seamless integration of sensors, NUWC Newport in September 2022, but the program is on communication systems, and other mission-speci? c compo- hold for the time being.

nents, adapting to the evolving requirements of naval operations.

With its long-endurance capability, the Orca XLUUV can Medium UUVS operate autonomously for extended periods. This allows for Leidos and L3Harris are working on a medium-sized un- sustained operational presence and increased mission effec- manned undersea vessel (UUV) for intelligence, surveillance tiveness in challenging undersea environments. and reconnaissance (ISR) for the submarine force and the ex-

Orca is based on the Boeing Echo Voyager XLUUV. Like plosive ordnance disposal community.

Echo Voyageur, Orca is 51-feet long, but features modular The Razorback UUVs were designed to operate from a dry construction to allow for the insertion of an additional 34-foot deck shelter or from a craft of opportunity. Razorback is based payload module. on the HII REMUS 600 platform. The newest version will be

According to the Congressional Research Service “Navy deployed from a submarine torpedo tube and be fully integrat-

Large Unmanned Surface and Undersea Vehicles: Background ed into the submarine’s combat system. This new capability and Issues for Congress” report issued on Dec. 20, 2023, “the basically means any submarine can become a host platform

Navy wants to use XLUUVs to, among other things, covertly for UUVs. deploy the Hammerhead mine, a planned mine that would be The Knife? sh medium-class UUV is designed as part of the tethered to the seabed and armed with an antisubmarine tor- littoral combat ship mine countermeasures mission package. It pedo, broadly similar to the Navy’s Cold War-era CAPTOR can search a large area and can detect, classifying and identi- 28 January/February 2024

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