Page 16 - ADT APRIL - MAY 2021 Online Magazine

a ship would be able to under normal circum-
stances. UAVs also help keep crew members
and ships out of danger and makes inspection
of targets at stand-off distances possible. The
use of UAVs also equates to cost savings as
well; besides flight hour costs, a naval support
helicopter or Maritime Patrol Aircraft would [ COVER STORY ]
need more manpower and have higher main-
tenance costs.

MQ-9B SeaGuardian
California-based General Atomics Aeronautical
Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has seen plenty of inter-
est in the SeaGuardian, the maritime variant of
its MQ-9B, which is the first remotely piloted
aircraft (RPA) that has been developed to fly
Combat Ships. After funding the first MUSV prototype, the Navy in in civil airspace alongside manned aircraft. The
July last year awarded a US$35 million contract to L3 Technologies, RPAS can perform over-the-horizon long-endur-
Inc. for the development of a MUSV prototype, with options to ance, medium-altitude Intelligence, Surveillance
procure up to eight additional MUSVs. Boeing is building the first and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions and can
five XLUUVs; the Navy has plans to procure additional XLUUVs at be configured for a range of naval and littoral
a rate of two per year starting in FY2023. surveillance operations, including anti-sur-
Providing further momentum to the Navy’s unmanned systems
plans, Leidos delivered Sea Hawk, the second medium-sized face warfare (ASuW), anti-submarine warfare
(ASW), search and rescue (SAR), humanitarian
unmanned surface vessel prototype, to the Navy in April this year. assistance and disaster relief (HADR), surveil-
The ship joins the service’s Surface Development Squadron One lance of borders and law enforcement.
(SURFDVRON) in California that was established in in 2019 to focus
on new surface warfare capabilities, unmanned vessels, and novel GA-ASI is collaborating with other defence con-
warfighting concepts. The Sea Hawk is an improved version of the tractors such as Leonardo and Raytheon on
Navy’s Sea Hunter that was developed by DARPA as a high-en- the SeaGuardian. In January this year, GA-ASI
durance platform to track submarines. According to reports, the announced that it was working with Leonardo
squadron is scheduled to receive seven medium and large USV to integrate the Italian company’s Seaspray
prototypes for experimentation withing the next two years.
radar onto the drone to offer persistent mar-
itime ISR capability to its customers. Also in
The U.S. Navy is also banking on the Boeing-built MQ-25A Stingray January, the company announced that Japan’s
carrier-based unmanned aircraft system reaching initial opera- coast guard had completed successful flight
tional capability by 2025. Once integrated into the carrier wing, the testing of Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S)
Stingray will enhance aircraft carrier reach as a sea-based, aerial maritime surveillance technologies, including its
refueling drone, one that is also capable of providing persistent ISR.
Unmanned systems are also being increasingly used by militaries
for mine hunting operations and for tracking improvised explosive
devices (IED) as they help keep personnel away from danger. In
November last year, France and the UK signed a contract with
Thales and its main partners - ECA Group, L3Harris and Saab -
for eight unmanned mine hunting systems. T be equally divided
between the two countries. The first operational system to navies
of the two nations will be delivered in 2022. In April this year, the
U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Technologies a contract to upgrade
AQS-20A towed sonars to AQS-20C configuration. The sonars
are being integrated on the MCM Unmanned Surface Vehicle for
mine hunting from a Littoral Combat Ship.

UAVs in High Demand
Interest in unmanned surface and under-sea vessels is picking up
substantially among navies globally, but even more in demand are
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Maritime drones are much more
cost effective than manned aircraft and also give the crew of a
vessel the tactical capability to extend the reach of the vessel’s sen-
sors, thus enabling surveillance over areas much wider than what

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