The United States (Orca XLUUV) and the United Kingdom (Manta XLUUV) have both tested similar technologies. The vessels will be controlled remotely, have a length of 10 to 30 meters, and can carry armaments over vast distances. The Australian Department of Defense will collaborate with Anduril Australia to design and produce three Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicles (XL-AUV) for undersea drones. You can also find our code of publishing ethics and standards here.Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton has announced a $2 billion (US$1.44 billion) investment in developing cutting-edge unmanned submarine technology to bolster Australia’s undersea warfare capabilities amid growing regional tensions. Also, please don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter here. Want More 19FortyFive articles, news, and analysis on the top military, defense, national security, as well as politics and economics news? Follow us on Google News, Flipboard, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. The United States may be somewhat late to the game, but it expects to catch up and deploy the Razorback soon and successfully transform its subs into drone motherships.Įxpert Biography: Serving as 1945’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. This chess game of developing unmanned underwater vehicles has the three adversaries rushing to improve capabilities for their drone warfare efforts. A torpedo tube is not a large space for a vehicle to find its way to, especially if the sub is maneuvering. The submarine force is trying to make retrieving autonomous underwater vehicles less clunky, but you still have to think recovery will impinge on submarine operations. It worked, but a rather clunky arrangement. So a plane would land in the water alongside and the ship had an installed crane to hoist it aboard. There were a couple of catapults on the fantail, so launching seemed to be no big deal, but the planes couldn’t land on the ship. Naval War College in an interview with 19FortyFive. The image that leapt to mind was of the seaplanes that operated from battleships during World War II,” explained Dr. “It strikes me as one of those kinks you have to work out when marrying up a new platform with an old one. The Chinese unmanned craft would help improve situational awareness for friendly subs by also serving as eyes and ears. This is more of a robotic submarine due to its size as it would be larger than the Razorback. Is Russia Considering Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons?Ĭhina also has an extra-large unmanned underwater vehicle that it has shown off in military parades.

However, the system is close to being fully deployed by the Navy “in the very near future,” said Rear Admiral Doug Perry, the head of undersea warfare for the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. The medium-sized Razorback weighs 600 pounds, and it takes a team of divers to get it back in the boat. Submarine Force commander Vice Admiral Bill Houston said on November 1 at the Naval Submarine League’s annual conference that the Navy can easily launch underwater drones but getting them back on the sub is a challenge. Despite the difficulties in recovery this is a significant feature for the Navy and will bring the submarine fleet into the business of deploying drones in the coming years. American subs can reportedly launch the UUV, but they are having trouble recovering the craft after it swims its mission. That’s what is happening with the torpedo-sized Razorback unmanned underwater vehicle. Navy is exploring the use of underwater drones, or UUVs, launched from submarines?

Naval submarine drones