Admiral John Richardson considers UUVs to increase power

Admiral John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, says they could get closer to the target faster by counting unmanned vessels with capabilities similar to a manned ship.

Richardson brought senior officers to Newport, Rhode Island, this month to talk about accelerating their development. The future Navy is going to be very different from today’s fleet, he said. Richardson said he’s trying to figure out how to increase naval power as quickly as he can because the Navy is being challenged at sea by very capable foreign naval forces.

He said he’s looking at vehicles that can do a range of things, including acting as sensors and carrying weapons, and can be networked in with the rest of the fleet. Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs) currently used by the Navy aren’t at the point now where they could replace manned platforms. While they can complete a task to support a mission, they can’t complete an entire mission on their own, and none are weaponized, according to the Navy.

PLUS System Completes Initial in-Water Testing

The PLUS (Persistent Littoral Undersea Surveillance) system consists of an undersea network of "sea gliders" and long-endurance Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs).

The UUVs perform as autonomous vessels with long underwater dwell times that carry highly capable sensors. The sea gliders are smaller autonomous vessels that collect the UUV data, and return to the surface to transmit that data to a shore-based collection and processing station.

The PLUS system is designed to easily deploy from any ship with a winch and crane and sufficient storage capacity. The testing conducted at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, R.I., Sept. 23 - 27, involved three UUVs and two sea gliders. Preliminary analyses of the results indicate that overall test objectives were achieved, and the PLUS system performed as expected.

Members of the Submarine Development Squadron Five UUV Detachment (DEVRON Five UUV Det) and LCS Squadron Anti-Submarine Warfare (LCSRON ASW) Mission Package Detachment One participated in this effort, helped set up the mission scenarios and assisted in the conduct of the tests. In turn, this exercise provided valuable training for the Navy operators who will be responsible for the PLUS system operations and maintenance. Testing will continue on the system until early 2015, when the Navy plans to deploy the PLUS system for overseas operational evaluation.

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