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has a length of 58 m and a range the 2040s. The country’s military is South Korean shipbuilder HD
of 4,000 n miles, bears a close also keen on using the operational Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD
resemblance to the 340 tonne USV concept of manned-unmanned HHI) is collaborating with American
concept unveiled in March 2022 at teaming (MUM-T), which is the use Palantir Technologies to develop
the World Defense Show (WDS) in of manned and unmanned systems USVs; the two companies unveiled
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. together as a force multiplier. their Tenebris medium USV concept
in May this year. With a length of
As part of its efforts to keep 17 meters and a weight of 14 tons,
China from flexing its arms in the Thriving Partnerships the USV concept aims to operate
region, the Pentagon provided in up to sea state six at a speed of
the Philippine Navy with MANTAS The growing demand for USVs 50 knots with an operational range
T-12 USVs in November this year. has spurred an increase in col-
The naval drones, which are the laborations between companies of at least 1000 nautical miles.
service’s first ever USVs, were with complementary strengths. In The USV will be capable of mine
made available through foreign April, U.S.-based Saildrone and hunting and electronic warfare, and
military financing to help defend Thales Australia, a division of is designed to support payloads
Manila’s exclusive economic zone France-based Thales Group, have of up to two tons. The goal is to
and sovereignty in the South China come together to equip Saildrone’s target the US and Korean markets
Sea. The MANTAS T-12, which is Surveyor USVs with Thales’ by developing a reconnaissance
3.6 meters long and can support BlueSentry towed arrays that can USV by 2026, and combat USVs
payloads of up to 64 kilograms, can detect and classify craft on or below later. While HD HHI will develop
be used for surveillance, swarming the waves. Meanwhile, Saildrone high-performance hulls for the USV
operations, and electronic warfare. and Austal have signed a Teaming and be in charge of the integration
According to reports, Manila is Agreement to manufacture the of advanced equipment, its autono-
expected to get more USVs from Surveyor, in Australia, for deploy- mous navigation subsidiary Avikus
the U.S. as part of the US$500 mil- ments in the Indo-Pacific region. will provide autonomous navigation
lion of foreign military financing that The Surveyor, Saildrone’ largest software and integrate Palantir’s
it has been granted. class of uncrewed surface vehicles Mission Autonomy technology. HD
Meanwhile, South Korea has (USVs), is designed for deep ocean HHI and Palantir will leverage their
announced plans to increase the mapping and intelligence, surveil- accumulated autonomous navi-
percentage of drones in its naval lance, and reconnaissance (ISR) gation technology and advanced
operations to 9% by the mid-2020s, applications above and below the defence AI to develop USVs that
28% by the mid-2030s and 45% by surface. can perform even in challenging
and adverse conditions..
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