Military

Sea Hunter unmanned sub chaser completes first sea trials

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Sea Hunter undergoing speed trials in March
DARPA
Sea Hunter undergoing speed trials in March
DARPA
The US Navy wants to teach autonomous ships like its Sea Hunter to speak
DARPA
Sea Hunter is equipped with a temporary pilot house for the sea tests
DARPA
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The Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) has completed its first round of sea trials, during which main contractor Leidos says it met or surpassed its performance goals. Co-sponsored by DARPA and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the autonomous 132-ft (42-m) trimaran, which is designed to track potentially hostile submarines for months at a time without a crew, was christened Sea Hunter on April 9 at the Swan Island shipyard in Portland, Oregon.

Leidos says that though the Sea Hunter has a pilot and is currently equipped with a temporary pilot house, later tests will have no personnel on board. When it's in service, it will operate for around 30 to 90 days at sea without a crew, while leaving and returning to port on its own. In addition, it is designed to operate safely and in accordance with maritime laws at only a tenth the cost of a conventional sub hunter.

In the first round of trials in the two-year test program, Sea Hunter passed all of its tests for speed, maneuverability, stability, seakeeping, acceleration/deceleration, and fuel consumption, as well as mechanical systems reliability on the open sea. The next phase of testing will concentrate more on the vessel's autonomous capabilities with a focus on sensors, the autonomy suite, the ability of the vessel to comply with maritime collision regulations, and what Leidos calls proof-of-concept demonstrations for various US Navy missions.

The video below shows Sea Hunter being launched and undergoing its initial speed tests.

Source: Leidos

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1 comment
Oun Kwon
Can it be designed as a submerged vehicle, rather that surface one.