Subsea Defense: Navy Deepens Commitment to Underwater Vehicles Senior Chief Mineman Abraham Garcia (left) and Aerographer s Mate 1st Class Joshua Gaskill, members of the Knifefish Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) test team, man tending lines during crane operations as part of an operational test conducted by members from Operational Test and Evaluation Force (OPTEVFOR). Knifefish is a medium-class mine countermeasure UUV designed for deployment off the Littoral Combat Ship. OPTEVFOR is the Navy’s sole test and evaluation organization for surface, air, and un Orca extra-large unmanned undersea vehicle will be used in mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare. Credit: Boeing. CURV-21 is a 6,400-pound Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) that is designed to meet the US Navy s deep ocean salvage requirements down to a maximum depth of 20,000 feet of seawater. This vehicle is loaded with a host of new technolog
These boats will pair with manned submarines to hunt down and sink enemy warships.
The U.S. Navy is moving quickly to build two new undersea large drone prototypes to launch from a submarine, surveil the undersea, locate enemy mines, subs, and surface ships, and coordinate targeting for torpedo attacks.
Naval Sea Systems Command just released a request to industry to submit proposals to build two prototype Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (LDUUV) to begin construction next year. The LDUUV program is intended to complement a sweeping broader scale Navy unmanned system effort intended to deliver as many as twenty-one new large drone boats within just the next five years. The LDUUVs could be launched from submarine missile tubes to engage in long-dwell undersea reconnaissance missions and use various kinds of data gathering and transmission technologies to inform submarine commanders of relevant combat information.