Page 21 - ADT NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2023 Online Magazine

tive autonomy. Instead of just operating on a
pre-defined path, for example, several under-
water drones will be able to carry out together
complex operations to survey and clear the sea
mine field.

As one of the world leaders in mine warfare sys-
tems – both manned and unmanned – Thales
is developing advanced technologies that sup-
port the transition from conventional solutions,
such as drones and other new solutions based
on unmanned systems.

The idea is to let unmanned vehicles take on
more difficult roles in military operations.

countermeasures capabilities and the Razorback’s torpedo tube- Thales is among those working on anti-
launched battlespace-sensing capabilities only – it will not include mine autonomous UUVs under a programme
the dry deck shelter configuration, according to a Naval Sea Systems called “Explainable and Trustable Artificial
Command news release. Intelligence,” designed to enable manned and
unmanned systems to make informed decisions
“The MUUV will be a modular, open systems, and open in military applications.
architecture UUV. In the Razorback Torpedo Tube Launch
& Recovery (TTL&R) configuration, it will provide subma- The British navy is already into it. U.K. Geospatial
rine-based autonomous oceanographic sensing and and data company Envitia -- together with
partner BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, had
data collection in support of intelligence preparation won a contract to embark on one of the first AI
of the operational environment. In the MEMUUV config- projects for the British navy—to develop and
uration, it will provide persistent surface-launched and deliver an AI-equipped unmanned UUV that will
-recovered mine countermeasures (MCM),” the release said. hunt underwater mines.

Artificial Intelligence and UUVs The U.K. Royal Navy’s Route Survey Tasking &
Analytics (RSTA) project would adopt auton-
However, the underwater realm is the most difficult because of the omous vehicles, built using open architectures
limitations of underwater communications, which makes some form and AI.
of artificial intelligence (AI) mandatory.
According to Envitia documents, mine hunting
Given the overload of data today, distinguishing between false is currently carried out by a fleet of ships that
alarms and actual dangers has become more difficult. That’s why use sonar to survey seabed’s looking for anoma-
“Thales is working on “Deep Learning” algorithms capa- lies. The new AI-enabled submersibles, however,
ble of recognizing the particular “song” of a submarine, will be much quicker in being able to scan an
object, identify the threat, and decide what to
much as the “Shazam” app helps you identify a song you do with it.
hear on the radio,” says Dominique Thubert, Thales Underwater
Systems, which is specialised in sonar systems for submarines, sur- Analysts opine that the UUV use has been
face warships, and aircraft.
demonstrated to be very cost- effective with
persistence and data quality that are not
These algorithms, attached to submarines, surface ship or drones, achievable using traditional methods. But they
will help naval forces sort through and classify information in order to say that in order to be exploit maximum ben-
detect attacks early on. “Equipping our military vessels with efits from employing the information collected
a higher-level artificial intelligence is the answer to the by UUVs in the establishment of the situational
increasing size and complexity of data to be processed awareness the mission design needs to be
as well as the need to reduce staff,” says Thubert. analysed in terms not only the UUV design with
appropriate sensor payloads, but also how the
information is integrated with data from other
More intelligent, autonomous systems are also being developed for information sources within the processing
Mine Warfare, to move from conventional autonomy to collabora- centre..
ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2023 | 21