Naval Research Laboratory XFC Sea Robin demonstration Atlantic Undersea
Test & Evaluation Center in August 2013. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy has demonstrated the launch of a small unmanned
aircraft from submarine for the first time, the service announced in a
statement on Dec. 5. The successful test could herald the arrival of
potentially revolutionary new intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance capabilities for the Navy’ submarine force and special
warfare communities.
The demonstration “represents an unprecedented paradigm shift in UAV
[unmanned aerial vehicle] propulsion and launch systems,” Warren
Schultz, program developer and manager for the program at the Naval
Research Laboratory (NRL). “This six-year effort represents the best in
collaboration of a Navy laboratory and industry to produce a technology
that meets the needs of the special operations community.”
During the demonstration, the NRL developed eXperimental Fuel Cell Unmanned Aerial System (XFC UAS) was fired out of the USS Providence
(SSN-719)’s torpedo tube using a ‘Sea Robin’ launch system, which is
designed to fit inside an existing Tomahawk launch canister.
After it was fired out of the Providence’s torpedo tube, the
Sea Robin rose to the surface and launched the XFC UAS—but only after it
received permission from the Los Angeles-class boat.
The NRL describes the XFC as a “fully autonomous, all electric fuel
cell powered folding wing” unmanned air system. It has an endurance of
greater than six hours, according to the NRL. The aircraft uses an
electrically assisted take-off mechanism, which boosts the small UAV
vertically out of its container.
Once in the air, the XFC “flew a successful several hour mission demonstrating live video capabilities streamed back to Providence,
surface support vessels and Norfolk” read the NRL statement. The XFC
eventually landed at the Naval Sea Systems Command Atlantic Undersea
Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) in the Bahamas after the completion
of the sortie.
According to the NRL, the lab received funding from the Office of
Naval Research’s SwampWorks officer and the Department of Defense Rapid
Reaction Technology Office (DoD/RRTO).
The Navy and industry have both explored launching unmanned aerial vehicles from submarines.
In late 2009, Boeing and Northrop Grumman proposed equipping the
Multiple All Up Round Canisters (MAC) in the Block III Virginia-class
(SSN-774) attack submarines and the Ohio-class guided missile submarines
(SSGN) with the compressed carriage version of the ScanEagle UAV.
* Article publicat al US Naval Institute. Interessant esdeveniment, tot i que caldrà seguir-ne l'evolució, que obre tot un camp en les operacions de reconeixement clandestí.
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