Underwater mine-hunting is one job you don't mind a robot taking away from you, which is why General Dynamics Mission Systems in developing the Knifefish robotic mine-hunter. The unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) recently completed evaluation tests with the US Navy in a dummy minefield off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts, demonstrating its ability to detect and classify mines submerged at various depths.
The Knifefish is a heavyweight-class autonomous Surface Mine CounterMeasure (SMCM) UUV and is based on the General Dynamics' Bluefin Robotics Bluefin-21 deep-water AUV. It is being developed for use by the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) as part of a Mine Countermeasure (MCM) mission package.
The sensor-laden robot is designed to seek out mines while its human supervisors and command ship remain at a safe distance. It can detect, identify, and classify mines, even in cluttered environments, and boasts an open-ended architecture and "plug and play" modular platform designed to allow it to be easily upgraded or quickly modified for various missions. Knifefish is also designed to pass on information to and operate with other mine warfare systems.
In the recent tests, the Knifefish proved successful in locating and classifying dummy mines submerged at various depths and also sitting on the seafloor. It's also designed to locate and identify mines buried under the seafloor. With the tests being hailed a success, further at-sea testing will be conducted this year ahead of anticipated formal System Acceptance Testing with the US Navy.
"The Navy continues to work with its industry partner, General Dynamics Mission Systems, to develop, test, and deliver the needed Knifefish capability to the fleet," says Captain Jon Rucker, Program Manager for the Navy's Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office. "The system performed well against a variety of surrogate targets and we are confident we will refine its performance to support the planned schedule in 2017."
Source: General DynamicsUnderwater mine-hunting is one job you don't mind a robot taking away from you, which is why General Dynamics Mission Systems in developing the Knifefish robotic mine-hunter. The unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) recently completed evaluation tests with the US Navy in a dummy minefield off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts, demonstrating its ability to detect and classify mines submerged at various depths.
The Knifefish is a heavyweight-class autonomous Surface Mine CounterMeasure (SMCM) UUV and is based on the General Dynamics' Bluefin Robotics Bluefin-21 deep-water AUV. It is being developed for use by the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) as part of a Mine Countermeasure (MCM) mission package.
The sensor-laden robot is designed to seek out mines while its human supervisors and command ship remain at a safe distance. It can detect, identify, and classify mines, even in cluttered environments, and boasts an open-ended architecture and "plug and play" modular platform designed to allow it to be easily upgraded or quickly modified for various missions. Knifefish is also designed to pass on information to and operate with other mine warfare systems.
In the recent tests, the Knifefish proved successful in locating and classifying dummy mines submerged at various depths and also sitting on the seafloor. It's also designed to locate and identify mines buried under the seafloor. With the tests being hailed a success, further at-sea testing will be conducted this year ahead of anticipated formal System Acceptance Testing with the US Navy.
"The Navy continues to work with its industry partner, General Dynamics Mission Systems, to develop, test, and deliver the needed Knifefish capability to the fleet," says Captain Jon Rucker, Program Manager for the Navy's Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office. "The system performed well against a variety of surrogate targets and we are confident we will refine its performance to support the planned schedule in 2017."
Source: General Dynamics
Russia reveals giant nuclear torpedo in state TV 'leak' 12 November 2015
The Kremlin says secret plans for a Russian long-range nuclear torpedo - called "Status-6" - should not have appeared on Russian TV news. The leak happened during a report on state-run Channel One about President Vladimir Putin meeting military chiefs in the city of Sochi. One general was seen studying a diagram of the "devastating" torpedo system. Launched by a submarine, it would create "wide areas of radioactive contamination", the document says. The "oceanic multi-purpose Status-6 system" is designed to "destroy important economic installations of the enemy in coastal areas and cause guaranteed devastating damage to the country's territory by creating wide areas of radioactive contamination, rendering them unusable for military, economic or other activity for a long time", the document says. "It's true some secret data got into the shot, therefore it was subsequently deleted," said Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "In future we will undoubtedly take preventive measures so this does not happen again." The US Defence Department said it had seen the report, but would not comment further. "We are aware of the video footage, but defer to the Russian navy as to its authenticity," a Pentagon spokesperson told the BBC. However, the Russian government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta later reported details of the weapon, without showing the diagram, and speculated about a super-radioactive cobalt device. So the leak may not have been accidental. Cobalt warhead? On the diagram the giant torpedo's range is given as "up to 10,000km" (6,200 miles) and depth of trajectory is "up to 1,000m" (3,300ft). It was developed by Rubin, a submarine design bureau in St Petersburg. It would, apparently, be launched by nuclear-powered submarines of the 09852 "Belgorod" and 09851 "Khabarovsk" series. Rossiiskaya Gazeta called the torpedo a "robotic mini-submarine", travelling at 100 knots (185km/h; 115mph), which would "avoid all acoustic tracking devices and other traps".