Eye on the Navy
Unmanned Surface Vehicles
Navy acknowledges value of USVs; sets vision, priorities in USV Master Plan
By Edward Lundquist Senior Science Advisor Alion Science and Technology
The U.S. Navy's long awaited Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) Master Plan has established a vision for the development and employment of USVs to support the full spectrum of naval warfare. The sea service's vision is to "develop and field cost-effective USVs to enhance Naval and Joint capability to support homeland defense, the Global War on Terror, irregular warfare, and conventional campaigns," recognizes the inherent value of the importance of USVs to conduct difficult and dangerous assignments at reduced risks while serving as force multipliers. A USV is different from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) in that it "displaces water at rest," and "operates with
near continuous contact with the surface of the water," according to the Master Plan. "Interface of the vehicle with the surface is a major design driver," the document states. Hull designs examined included semi-submersibles; conventional planing hulls; semi-planing hulls and hydrofoils, as well as others. The plan defines USV capabilities for the near, mid and far terms, while establishing levels of performance required. Several classes of USVs were discussed, along with the capabilities required by those classes. The plan also looks at the technology required and available for naval USVs to assess current readiness and recommend future investments. "USVs will augment current and future platforms to deliver enhanced steady-state and surge capability to help deter the enemy at the regional, transnational, and global levels. USVs will be
highly automated to reduce communication/data exchange requirements and operator loading. They will deploy and retrieve devices, gather, transmit, or act on all types of information, and engage targets with minimal risk or burden to US and Coalition Forces. High-priority USV missions supporting the Joint Capability Areas (JCAs) were listed in the plan, in order of priority: � Mine Countermeasures (MCM) � Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) � Maritime Security (MS) � Surface Warfare (SUW) � Special Operations Forces (SOF) Support � Electronic Warfare (EW) � Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO) Support The document was chartered by the Program Executive Officer for Littoral and Mine Warfare (PEO (LMW) and signed by Mr. Jim Thomsen, PEO LMW
along with Rear Adm. Vic Guillory, the directors for surface warfare, and Maj. Gen Tom Benes, USMC director for expeditionary warfare on the Chief of Naval Operations staff. Emphasis will be placed on improving bandwidth and connectivity with USVs for better exchange of tactical data; extending communication range, autonomy and providing fail safes for weapons employment. The Master Plan says that investment should be made to improve technology that permits mission payload power efficiency, "allowing the technology to be used on smaller USVs and for longer times. Conversely, USV technologies and capabilities should be pursued to provide stability in higher sea states, improved power generation and mission endurance, and the ability to maintain speed in a variety of operating conditions."
A USSV-HTF that shows the concept of an unmanned boat underway.
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