In 2020, the US Navy plans to complete a couple of significant projects aimed at accelerating the adoption of uninhabited surface vehicles (UAS) into the surface combat fleet, which represents a notable modernization initiative with the prospect of radically reformatting the naval forces, long-term plans for shipbuilding, as well as tactical techniques and methods of warfare.
One of the issues planned for the first half of this year is to determine the configuration of the surface combat flotilla, with particular attention to how many and what size of autonomous vessels the fleet needs, as well as to conduct an analysis with an emphasis on costs and organizational structure of forces. At the end of the year, it is planned to complete the development of the concept of combat use for NNA, which determines the main strategy for the adoption of autonomous combat vehicles equipped with missiles and sensors into the fleet.
This activity is the result of a disagreement between the Navy and the Trump administration in December 2020 over forward-looking shipbuilding plans. At the same time, the fleet opposed the reduction of 12 warships in the period from 2021 to 2025 in order to redirect the saved $ 10 billion to new priorities, including uninhabited systems. In response, the White House demanded that the Navy reinstate the proposed cuts. The outcome of this swing will be seen in the fleet's fiscal 2021 budget request, which was sent to Congress earlier this year.
Strategic transition
Underlying the current budget intrigue is the National Defense Strategy 2018, which envisions that the US military, after nearly two decades of irregular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is focusing on a potential confrontation with China or Russia.
This strategy, especially its emphasis on the use of new technologies, such as autonomy and artificial intelligence, forces the US Navy to actively engage in the development of its uninhabited platforms and the principles of their combat use.
The US Navy currently has 293 warships in its composition and plans to increase this number to 355 units, although this could take about ten years, subject to stable and generous funding, for which there has not yet been historical precedent. As the incumbent US Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modley, admitted last September, "This cannot be done within a reasonable time frame." But in December he said: “The fleet is too small. Our capabilities are based on a small number of huge ships and this needs to be changed over time."
Despite the fact that the Navy is aware of the low rate of fleet expansion, they are developing a new concept in support of the National Defense Strategy called "Dispersed Naval Operations", which provides for a wider distribution of the fleet in the era of great power confrontation.
“In order to achieve this dispersal - and the ability to create this dispersal - we need more platforms to deploy more weapon systems and sensors,” said Pete Small, Program Manager for Marine Unmanned Systems. "This is where uninhabited systems come in."
The Navy is looking at the potential of a medium to large size NVA fleet to carry missiles and sensors (currently widely deployed on crewed vessels), allowing these platforms to be deployed to unsafe disputed areas with less risk.
The plans envisage the addition of these platforms to the manned surface fleet without any replacement of the current traditional warships.
Balance the concept of containment
China and Russia have invested heavily in developing capabilities such as long-range air defenses, precision-guided ballistic and cruise missiles, long-range submarines and radars, and sophisticated command and control systems that can be used in one combination or another to target US deployed forces. The Navy believes that it will be able to partially balance these so-called A2 / AD capabilities (Anti-Access / Area Denial - the concept of deterring the enemy (usually with a complex of weapons) by creating an increased danger for the deployment or movement of enemy forces to the defended area) by adopting in its composition of platforms such as NNA.
For example, the Navy is studying what can be achieved if the DDG-51 destroyer of the Arleigh Burke class is paired with a large NVA armed with missiles and a medium NVA equipped with sensor kits. “We can send medium NVAs closer or even into the A2 / AD area and make them the sensor nodes we need to send information from that area to habitable platforms,” Small said. - Further, based on this information, the habitable platform now has more options when working in conjunction with a large NVA, as a large NVA adds more capabilities. And it offers a variety of targeting and firing concepts that weren't available when you only had one manned platform."
He continued:
“Now the operational space is opening for these expensive crewed destroyers, which are the hallmark of our surface capabilities. One surface manned platform, which must do everything - detection, targeting and firing - can now distribute these functions on more platforms, including medium and large NVA. She can give someone detection or targeting or firing, you have more options. In this scenario, you can fire from a destroyer or large NPA."
This dispersed configuration gives the American military much more options when performing a combat mission and, conversely, creates more problems for the enemy. "And that translates into an increased advantage in this combat scenario."
Alternative analysis
The representative of the Office of Surface Warfare in the structure of the US Navy noted that they had carried out an assessment that lasted a whole year, according to the results of which recommendations will be given on the ratio of manned and uninhabited ships in the fleet. It is expected that the analysis, currently being discussed by the commanders of fleets and formations, will help determine for the future fleet a combination of large surface ships (for example, destroyers and cruisers), small surface warships (for example, coastal combat ships and the planned FFG (X) frigate), as well as large and medium-sized NPA.
To date, the fleet has developed a "pyramid concept" with large surface vessels - most of them powerful and expensive platforms - at the top, supported by a large number of smaller surface vessels that are multitasking but cheaper. The next in the scheme may be a larger number of large NSA, which, while not being as functionally capable as small surface warships, are capable of delivering powerful impact at a lower cost. Finally, the pyramid is based on the most inexpensive medium-sized NPA in this combination, in connection with which the fleet can afford to purchase them in large quantities.
The data from this assessment will help form long-term plans for the costs and construction of ships of the fleet, which are planned to begin to be implemented from 2022.
However, it should be borne in mind that over the past 25 years, although the US Navy has paid attention to unmanned technologies for air, surface and submarine missions, it has relatively leisurely adopted such systems.
“From a historical perspective, the fleet has generally taken a measured and not always quick approach to uninhabited technology. This refers to the incorporation of an unmanned aircraft into an aircraft carrier and then, of course, to the surface and underwater sphere. This is undoubtedly a serious challenge to accept a large number of large and medium-sized NPA into the fleet”.
Design progress
The US Navy is launching new projects for the development and procurement of large and medium-sized NPVs, although some of these projects were not originally intended for it. This is due to the fact that the command of the Navy has now set itself the goal of getting a more diverse fleet in terms of composition.
In 2010, DARPA began designing an uninhabited ship based on the premise that a human would not step on board at any stage of the cycle of operations. This project evolved into the ACTUV (Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel) program. Leidos has pledged to build and test an experimental platform to demonstrate the technical feasibility of autonomous ships at theaters or potentially global distances.
In 2018, the prototype ACTUV trimaran was named Sea Hunter and transferred to the Office of Naval Research, after which the Navy started talking about its enormous potential, which could bring qualitatively new capabilities to the fleet.
The Sea Hunter project gave impetus to plans for a low-cost, medium-sized, long-run LV that could be configured for various types of target loads. The primary task for this class is electronic warfare, as well as reconnaissance and information gathering.
The fleet's budget request for 2020 states:
“Medium NVA will support the fleet's ability to produce, deploy and distribute EW and reconnaissance / intelligence capabilities in sufficient quantities and provide / improve distributed situational awareness in maritime areas of responsibility. Medium-sized NVAs will be designed as cheaper, low-maintenance platforms that can take part in conflicts with an equal or near-equal competitor. Medium LVDs will initially be able to perform semi-autonomous operations with operators in or out of the control loop. In July 2019, the Navy published proposals for medium NVA. “The contract for one prototype of a medium-sized NPA should be issued in early 2020,” said Small. “The average NSA is a good example, in which we use the vast experience that has already been accumulated in the development of autonomous surface vehicles of various classes.”
Increase in size
Similarly, the fleet is engaged in large NPA, for example, three years ago, the Ghost Fleet Overlord program was launched in the bowels of the US Department of Defense. As part of this project, commercial fast delivery vessels used by the oil and gas industry to service offshore drilling rigs are being adapted and converted into experimental large LVs in order to use the volume intended for commercial cargo for modular combat payloads.
In September 2019, Phase 1 of the Ghost Fleet Overlord program was completed. In this phase, the two industrial groups involved in the project, led by Gibbs & Cox and L3 ASV, have redesigned a pair of existing fast delivery vessels in NVA, including autonomous systems integration, demonstration of seaworthy autonomy and over 600 hours of testing.
Phase 2 began in October 2019 and will continue until autumn 2021. According to the US Navy, it focuses on the integration of operational control systems and target loads. “This new phase allows for additional reliability testing, integration of autonomy systems and deeper integration of government-provided operational control systems for medium and large NNAs,” Small said. “All this experience gained in the Overlord Phase 2 program will be used in our work on medium and large NPA.”
Parallel project
In parallel with the Overlord program, the fleet is implementing a parallel project to develop a large LV based on a 60-90 meter long vessel with a displacement of about 2000 tons. In September, he issued a proposal for a large craft, which said: "A reconfigurable vessel with a long sailing duration, capable of taking various target loads for uninhabited missions in order to complement the capabilities of the manned surface ships of the American fleet."
“Having a large carrying capacity, large NPA will conduct a variety of combat operations independently or jointly with crewed surface warships. Large LVs will be able to perform semi-autonomous operations with operators in the control loop (remote control) or outside the loop (due to the high level of autonomy) , - says the proposal of the fleet.
“We are currently evaluating a number of proposals in the context of a large NPA concept,” added Small. "We will issue several orders to a number of industrial enterprises, which will help us further develop the requirements and concepts for a large LV with an integrated launcher."
The goal is for this priority program to issue the first contracts for a large NPA by 2023. Congress has allocated budgetary funds for two large surface vessels that the Navy has requested for 2020 (the vessels will be in Overlord configuration), but for now has firmly banned the Navy from integrating a vertical launch system into a large NVA. The US Navy intends to use these additional vessels to increase experimentation and experience and develop an integrated solution.
Promotion of programs
Along with its major NVA programs, the U. S. Navy is pursuing long-term plans to purchase uninhabited surface and submarine systems that predate the 2018 National Defense Strategy.
In August 2019, small-scale production of the Knifefish unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), designed to detect underwater mines deployed from warships, began.
In November last year, an operational evaluation of the Unmanned Influence Sweeping System, manufactured by Textron, was completed; this year, a decision should be made on its further fate, possibly on the beginning of mass production.
Two Razorback UUVs, based on the Hydroid project, were delivered in July 2019 to the so-called "Unmanned Submarine Squadron No. 1" in Washington state.
Boeing has teamed up with Huntington Ingalls to win a contract to build five ultra-large RVs, the first of which is due for delivery in 2021.
The Newport Submarine Warfare Center is overseeing the production of the Snakehead, a prototype large-displacement UVA, slated to be launched in 2021.
Industrial meanings
This trend towards smaller platforms means that it is likely that the fleet's plans for shipbuilding and, more broadly, the industrial base are changing.
“This is very interesting, an oversaturated market can really change what has maintained the status quo in shipbuilding for perhaps 40 years, and maybe longer,” Small said. - We are facing new challenges and opportunities associated with the very aggressive competition of all these new platforms or new types of tasks. I think a lot will come down to what requirements and standards the fleet is going to impose on these non-traditional ships and vehicles, and this will really determine the rules of the game for all participants in a highly competitive market."
New organization
In 2020, the US Navy should undoubtedly take up the development of issues related to the integration of these unconventional platforms into the fleet.
In order to prepare for the adoption of the NVA into service, the fleet in May 2019 organized a new unit in its composition - the SURFDEVRON (Surface Development Squadron) 1 in San Diego. The task of the new unit, in particular, is to support development work and accelerate the development of new combat capabilities and concepts.
One of the first projects is the development of official principles for the combat use of NVA, which is planned to be completed during 2020. “This is a big step,” said SURFDEVRON ONE Squadron Commander Henry Adams. "There is still a lot of work to be done and it will take a long time, but I think we should be done by the end of this year."
This document will become the organizational operational framework for how the fleet should operate the NVA. “The principles of combat use will pull with them everything from logistics to maintenance and work with the system on the high seas. Therefore, we have a lot of work to do this year”.
In December, the Navy shifted all responsibility for the Sea Hunter from the Office of Marine Research to SURFDEVRON. Command in San Diego is now responsible for the only medium NVA available. Upon completion of construction at the end of 2020, the second Sea Hunter will also be transferred to the SURFDEVRON squad.
“This still fledgling two-vessel fleet will be used in 2020 to develop an initial set of methods and procedures for manning, training, equipping and operating NVA,” Adams said, noting that this will set the stage for starting certification of NVA operators. "It's just a matter of gradual improvement, getting better and better and better."
At the end of 2021, the SURFDEVRON detachment will take on the balance of the Office of Strategic Opportunities two prototypes of large NSA, after which this experimental unit will have at its disposal two medium and two large devices. This will help the fleet move quickly to the planned deliveries of such platforms.
In addition to developing procedures and techniques to integrate NVA into the fleet, SURFDEVRON ONE is planning to conduct some experiments. “I intend to focus as closely as possible on the work at sea so that it can be easier to implement the planned program,” said Adams. - A plan for conducting experimental and experimental work is still being developed. In addition, several experiments are planned to coordinate the work of crewed and unmanned platforms."
All signs indicate that the US Navy is ultimately determined to bring uninhabited surface combatants to high water, which will go a long way to the fleet itself and its supporting industrial base.
