Page 22: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2024)

MARITIME LOGISTICS s the Military Sealift Command (MSC) cel- climb onto ships—something that seems easy but can often be ebrates its 75th anniversary, it is looking to dif? cult and dangerous. the future through the eyes of a forward- This effort started with the need to provide a safe way to thinking “innovation cell” named for a ship safely embark and debark personnel aboard the Navy’s two

A from its storied past. USNS Taluga (T-AO- large unmanned vessels, Mariner and Ranger, while at sea 62) was the ? rst Navy replenishment ship that was operated from small boats or at anchor. NavalX is investing in the by civil service mariners. original, patented design from Nautical Structures Industries

The Taluga Group is a three-person team of Director of Largo, Fla., that the Navy refers to as a Modernized Person-

John Bruening, Dean Vesely and Jerit VanAuker who are nel Transfer System (MPTS). focused on capability development and adoption of innova- “NavalX got involved because they have the connections tive practices. with available funding and the right contracting mechanisms,

The Tulaga Group team have diverse backgrounds to help which we didn’t have any experience in,” Bruening said.

them look at problems in different ways. Bruening is a retired Bruening explained that MSC has some ships that have a navy helicopter pilot; Vesely had a 30-year career as a surface high freeboard, like the expeditionary fast transports (EPFs), nuclear of? cer; and VanAuker is a retired limited duty ord- dry cargo/ammunition ships (T-AKEs), large, medium speed nance of? cer. roll on/roll off ships (LMSRs) and hospital ships (T-AHs). “We’re looking at ? nding new or better ways to use our “We liked the safety aspect which we could apply to our cur- existing platforms, as well as envisioning different ways to rent ships by installing an automated Jacob’s ladder,” he said.

conduct maritime logistics,” said Bruening. While the Navy’s new medium and large unmanned surface

The Taluga Group is working with NavalX, the Navy’s tech- vessels may not have crews, there will be times that personnel nology accelerator, to ? nd new concepts and technologies, as need to come aboard them. “When a boat crew comes along- well as adapt existing capabilities to be able to do something side a USV, we can use the automated Jacob’s Ladder to pro- new. One of the group’s current projects is examining an in- vide a safe way to climb aboard the ship. They come up in a novative version of the Jacobs Ladder, used by mariners to RHIB next to the USV, hit the remote control, and the Jacob’s

The US Navy is experimenting with small UAVs like the

Martin UAV V-Bat 128 to deliver cargo to its ships at sea.

Photo source: Martin UAV

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