The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded BAE Systems a $4.6 million contract for an Small Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (SUUV) that would help U.S. Navy submarines detect adversary subs while minimizing their own risk of being detected. “Advances in maritime technology are critical to the Department of Defense and an area where the U.S. military can continue to strengthen its advantage,”Geoff Edelson, director of Maritime Systems and Technology at BAE Systems, said in a company news release.
The U.S. Navy has been evaluating alternative power generation solutions from General Atomics, General Motors, Lynntech and NexTech Materials, to power its next generation of combat UUVs.
More concretely, the Navy has been evaluating hydrogen fuel cell technologies to convert high-energy hydrogen into electricity that, when applied to a UUV, will result in a vehicle with greater range and endurance than those powered with batteries.
Also, hydrogen fuel cell propulsion technology helps address the two major environmental challenges (petroleum use and carbon dioxide emissions) as fuel cell vehicles can operate on renewable hydrogen from sources like wind and biomass stored for later use. Once converted to electricity, water vapor is the only emission. Recharging takes only minutes.
Finally, the US Navy has selected the General Motor’s (GM) hydrogen fuel cell technology to power its latest UUV under the ONR’s Innovative Naval Prototype program for Large Displacement UUVs (LDUUV), conceived for UUVs with more than 60 days endurance. Mainly, the GM option has been based in the cost of the cells, as a lower cost can be achievable through volume production supporting automotive applications.
Last but not least, GM’s fuel cells are compact and lightweight and have high reliability and performance. These attributes match the goals of the Navy to develop reliable, affordable systems. “The collaboration with the Navy leveraged what we learned in amassing more than 3 million miles of real-world experience with our Project Driveway fuel cell program,” said Charlie Freese, executive director of GM Global Fuel Cell Activities. “Our customers will benefit from additional lessons we learn about the performance of fuel cells in non-automotive applications that will be useful in GM’s drive to offer fuel cells across consumer markets.”
“Fuel cells can be game changers for autonomous underwater systems,” said Frank Herr, ONR’s department head for Ocean Battlespace Sensing. “Reliability, high energy, and cost-effectiveness — all brought to us via GM’s partnering — are particularly important as Navy looks to use UUVs as force multipliers.”The Naval Research Laboratory recently concluded an evaluation of a prototype UUV equipped with a GM fuel cell, in pools at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Carderock, Md. The next step could be to test the LDUUV in the open sea this year, in order to field a first squadron of the robotic submarines by 2020.
Desde 2009 el SOCOM (Special Operations Command - Comando de Operaciones Especiales) de la U.S. Navy lleva buscando un vehículo sumergible apto para transportar a sus SEALs (Sea Air Land - Mar Aire Tierra) desde un submarino o un pequeño barco hasta una orilla en territorio enemigo.
El candidato favorito actual se llama Proteus y es un UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle - Vehiculo Subacuático No Tripulado) de 3,84 toneladas de peso, 8 metros de largo y 1,6 metros de diámetro, que también puede ser operado como un vehículo tripulado y cumple con el requisito SOCOM de transportar hasta seis SEALs.
Más concretamente, su bodega permite el transporte de hasta 1,6 toneladas de carga, y puede ser configurado para llevar a seis SEALs, con sus trajes de neopreno y todo su equipaje. Naturalmente Proteus también puede funcionar de manera autónoma y volver automáticamente a la nave o subsector desde el que fuera lanzado. En cuanto a su autonomía, ofrece ocho horas a una velocidad de crucero de 7,5 nudos (14 Km/H) lo cual se traduce en un radio de acción de hasta 50 Km.
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport (NUWCDIVNPT) has a requirement for services to perform systems engineering, system development, technical analysis, installation, integration, testing and evaluation services in support of U.S. Navy, Government-owned Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) (Read more)
