#Underwater submarine software#

Image for Representation China Also Working On UUVs

The Lionfish, Small UUV program involves the Remus 300 drone from Huntington Ingalls Industries, designed to advance the ‘ distributed maritime operations’ concept by conducting critical underwater missions. While in the future, the Orca could perform mine countermeasures (MCM), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), electronic warfare (EW), anti-surface warfare (ASUW), intelligence and surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and even strike missions.

The service aims to create a family of UUVs, working on several platforms, like the Orca Extra Large UUV (XLUUV) and the Lionfish Small UUV.ĭeveloped by Boeing, the Orca XLUUV will initially focus on Concept of Operations (CONOPS) development, payload integration work, and mine warfare (MIW). The US Navy is actively investing in the UUV capabilities to maintain superiority in the undersea domain.

#Underwater submarine software#

So far, the Snakehead has conducted 155 in-water sorties and more than 78 hours of runtime, using a government-owned and controlled modular open system architecture called the Topside Command, Control, and Communications (C3) software for mission planning, operations, and analysis.īefore the recent test, the LDUUV underwent 190 hours of hardware and software simulations to ensure that the mission parameters set by the vehicle were accurate. With roughly the same size as a SEAL delivery vehicle (SDV), the Snakehead is the US Navy’s largest submarine-launched UUV, with a payload capacity beyond small and medium UUVs.Īpart from IPOE missions, the LDUUV will also be used for mine countermeasure missions and electronic warfare (EW), per an earlier EurAsian Times report which notes that it will be equipped with an electronic support measures (ESM) system that will allow the LDUUV to collect information from radars and communication nodes of the adversary. The unmanned undersea vehicle incorporates several innovative technologies, including lithium-ion fault tolerance (LiFT) batteries, advanced hull materials and sensors, and launch and recovery from submarines and surface vessels.

It provides guidance and control, navigation, situational awareness, propulsion, maneuvering, and sensors supporting the IPOE mission. Snakehead is a modular, reconfigurable, multi-mission LDUUV that can be deployed from submarines and surface ships. “The accomplishment of this mission in the system’s intended operational environment was a big step for the program to gain confidence in the vehicle software and hardware systems, as the team pushes toward extended endurance operations and layering additional system capability,” said Chris DelMastro, head of the Undersea Warfare Platforms and Payload Integration Department. The sortie was conducted using the ‘Draper Laboratory-developed Maritime Open Architecture Autonomy’ and a sonar data collecting technology provided by the Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory. The underwater drone conducted a ‘long distance ingress’ (entry into the area of interest at a long distance), performed a sonar survey box, and then egressed (exit) back to the test facility, “demonstrating a new milestone in total sortie endurance,” said NAVSEA. It includes creating detailed maps of the sea floor and identifying threats or other objects of interest, knowledge of which is essential for a submarine to enter or exit a particular area without being detected.Ī team conducted the demonstration from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport at the Narragansett Bay Test Facility on July 21. IPOE missions are a mandatory requirement for understanding an area of interest based on which a relevant course of action is planned to support the warfighter. China’s Own ‘Top Gun’ – Born To Fly – Promoting J-20 Stealth Fighter Jets To Showcase PLAAF’s Might The US Navy demonstrated an end-to-end intelligence preparation of the operational environment (IPOE) mission with a prototype of the Snakehead large displacement uncrewed undersea vehicle (LDUUV) last month, according to the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).