UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLES (UUVs)

Mise à jour 2009 /algerie-defense/By defenceIQ/a division of IQPC

The first recognised use of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) as part of a live mine
countermeasures operation occurred in March 2003, when US Navy mine warfare elements
deployed as part of Operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’ took the Hydroid REMUS 100 system into the shallow
waters of the Northern Arabian Gulf and used its side‐scan sonar to systematically map the
approaches into the port of Umm Qasr. The intervening period has seen a handful of navies
introduce UUVs into their frontline MCM order‐of‐battle. Many others have acquired limited
numbers of UUVs for trials and experimentation purposes, with most identifying MCM
reconnaissance and route survey as their initial interest.

Hydroid claims market leadership in the small UUV arena with more than 140 REMUS 100 variant
vehicles delivered to defence users worldwide by January 2008. Of these, an estimated 70 per cent
are being utilised for MCM applications. The US Navy (USN) is by far its largest customer, others
including the Belgian Navy, German Navy, Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy,
Republic of Singapore Navy, NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC) and the UK RN.

Hydroid’s REMUS 600 AUV system is a development of the REMUS 100 vehicle and it completed its
second set of sea trials with the UK Royal Navy on the 15th May 2009 to fulfil the requirements of
the Ministry of Defence’s MCM RECCE UUV programme. Hydroid was awarded a GBP5.5 million
(US$7.4 million) contract in August 2007 for two new REMUS 600 systems, beating competing offers
form Bluefin Robotics for its Bluefin‐12 system and Kongsberg Maritime with its Hugin 1000‐MR
system. The vehicles will be primarily deployed form the RN’s Hunt‐class MCMVs and will
complement the REMUS 100 systems already in service. Babcock Design and Technology is
supporting Hydroid, providing the RN with UK‐based training and services and support facilities for
five years. The first export contract for the REMUS 600 came from the Royal Australian Navy, which
bought one system in April 2007

Since the Kongsberg Hugin project commenced in 1995 five vehicles have been designed and built
with the latest, the Hugin 1000‐MR, developed for the Royal Norwegian Navy’s (RNoN’s) AUV
programme. The Hugin Mine Reconnaissance System (Hugin MRS) development programme was
established in 2002. It is intended that the Hugin MRS will be operated from the RNoN’s three
Oskoy‐class minehunters and three Alta‐class minesweepers. A fully capable system was delivered
to the RNoN in 2008 for evaluation in conducting REA, mine detection and classification and highprecision
seabed route surveys. In March 2007 Kongsberg signed a contract to supply systems
including three Hugin MRS vehicles to the Finnish Navy as part of its MCMV 2010 programme.

Another major player is Bluefin Robotics, founded in 1997 from a core team of the Autonomous
Underwater Vehicles Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an institution
with which it remains closely associated. Under the USN’s Surface Mine Counter‐Measures
Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Program: Increment 2 (SMCM/UUV‐2), Bluefin Robotics was
awarded as US$18 million contract in August 2006 to deliver two UUV‐based MCM systems for
deployment and operation from the service’s (MCM‐1) Avenger‐class vessels, as well as ships of
opportunities. A contract option for a third system has subsequently been exercised.

The BPAUV, based on Bluefin’s Bluefin‐21 vehicle, is part of the LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) MCM
mission package currently in development. To date 11 BPAUVs have been built and delivered. In
addition, a Bluefin‐21 AUV is the basis for the MUSCLE technology demonstrator system built for
NURC by Thales Underwater Systems. Three systems (each with two AUVs and associated support
and processing equipment) have so far been delivered.

BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (Insyte) has unveiled a new two‐man portable
unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) demonstrator founded on technology previously proven in the
company’s Talisman M system. Known as Talisman Littoral, the 50 kg vehicle uplifts the autonomy,
precision navigation accuracy and connectivity of its bigger sibling, but repackages this functionality
into a scaled‐down vehicle optimised for operations in confined harbour, inshore and very shallow
water environments. Sea trials of a prototype were planned to start in July 2009. The company is
also looking to reconfigure its larger Talisman M vehicle to accommodate two Talisman Littoral
vehicles in its internal payload bays.

Germany’s Atlas Elektronik completed a series of operational trials using its Sea Otter Mk 1
autonomous underwater vehicle, through its Atlas Maridan business unit, in 2005. A single Sea
Otter Mk 1 AUV has been acquired by the German Navy for experimentation by the German
Technical Center for Ships and Naval Weapons (WTD 71). Atlas Elektronik is now developing a
successor Sea Otter Mk II, two examples of which have been ordered by Germany’s Federal Office
for Defence Technology and Procurement.

Another German company, Diehl, has developed the DAVID small‐scale UUV technology
demonstrator. Designed for MCM, harbour inspection and protection.

The US Navy (USN) selected BAE Systems Archerfish as the MCM Common Neutralizer in 2006, while
the ATLAS Electronik SeaFox system has been sold to the Belgian, Estonian, German, Netherlands
and Swedish navies as well as the UK Royal Navy. Other one‐shot mine destructor systems available
or in service include Kongsberg’s Minesniper. ECA’s K‐ster, the Polish CTM Gluptak and Gaymarine
Srl’s MIKI.

The LCS MCM mission package incorporates the AN/AQS‐235 Airborne Mine Neutralisation System
based on the Archerfish mine destructor and the Battlespace Preparation Autonomous Undersea
Vehicle (BPAUV). The USN is also acquiring up to 250 long‐endurance unmanned underwater gliders
by 2011 for persistent oceanographic sampling. Teledyne Brown Engineering is leading the design
and build effort under a March 2009 USN US$6.2 million contract for ocean Littoral Battlespace
Sensing‐Gliders (LBS‐G) using the Teledyne Webb Research Slocum Glider as the baseline vehicle.

Other battery‐powered ROVs in operation include the ATLAS Elektronik GmbH Pinguin B3 in service
with the German, United Arab Emirates and Republic of China navies and Gaymarine Srl’s Pluto,
Pluto Plus (increased endurance and range with a fibre optic cable) and Pluto Gigas (double the
power of Pluto Plus for increased speed, endurance, payload and depth). Pluto family systems are
also in service with the navies of Italy, Nigeria, Norway, South Korea, Spain and Thailand.

The US legacy system in operation since 1987, the AN/SLQ‐48 Mine Neutralisation System
developed by Alliant Techsystems Marine Systems (now Raytheon), uses a high‐definition sonar to
relocate mine‐like targets and classify them as mines or non‐mines as well as using low‐light TV for
identification. The USN still operates the system on Avenger‐class MCMVs, although these will be
replaced with the Archerfish mine neutraliser from 2009. The system is also operational on theOsprey‐class

 vessels operated by the Egyptian Navy and the Hellenic Navy.

The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force operates a version of the AN/SLQ‐48, known as the S‐8, on its
Yaeyama‐class ocean minesweepers. Japan has persisted with tethered systems for MCMVs through
the indigenous design of ROVs for use on their platforms, having operated the PAP 104 as well as the
AN/SLQ‐48 (S‐8). Entering service on the Uwajima‐class coastal minehunters in 1990, the S‐7 is
similar in configuration to the S‐8 with power provided from the MCMV through a tether. Japan’s
Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute developed the S‐10 from 1993 as
a follow on design to the S‐7. The S‐10 entered service in March 2008 and will equip Japan’s
Hirashima‐class coastal minesweepers.

Saab Underwater Systems’ Double Eagle family of ROVs looks set to consolidate the continued use of
tethered systems in MCM operations for some time to come. Saab has received an order from FMV
for a mid‐life upgrade of Double Eagle Mk.1 mine disposal vehicle systems to Double Eagle Mk.II
status. The order comprises 5 Double Eagle Mk.II vehicles for the ‘Koster’ class minehunters,
additional upgrade of the onboard systems, documentation and optional support programme.

The Double Eagle Mk II has been in use since 1994 and is in service with the navies of Australia,
Denmark, France, Finland and Sweden. The Mk IIs in operation with the Royal Danish Navy and
Finnish Navy are fitted with a Reson SeaBat 7128 high‐definition scanning sonar.

Saab has also developed the more powerful Double Eagle Mk III variant. The Mk III will be operated
by the Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN) on its five Visby‐class corvettes and five Koster‐class
minehunters. The RSwN’s Koster‐class minehunters are undergoing the second part of a two‐phase
upgrade programme that includes fitting the Double Eagle Mk III (known as ROV‐S in the upgrade) to
act as a PVDS, also fitted with a Reson SeaBat 7123 search and classification sonar to complement
the vessel’s wideband hull‐mounted minehunting sonar. HMS Koster and HMS Vinga re‐entered
service on the 13th March 2009 after completing this phase of the upgrade. The vehicles are also
being delivered to Belgium and the Netherlands for installation in their Tripartite minhunters during
a mid‐life upgrade programme. The PVDS concept is also used by French Navy Tripartite vessels with
the Double Eagle Mk II using the same Thales sonar.

Qinetiq’s SAS technology has been incorporated in the Sapphires UUV delivered by Saab
Underwater Systems to Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in October 2007.

Saab has also developed the SAROV package to provide the option of autonomous operation for the
Double Eagle vehicle, creating a hybrid AUV/ROV by allowing it to disconnect and dock to/from the
tether cable while underwater. The Royal Danish Navy is the launch customer for SAROV and will
receive the first vehicle in late 2009.

ECA’s Daurade UUV system is under development for the French Ministry of Defence’s Group
d’Etudes Sous‐Marine l’Atlantique (GESMA) under a contract awarded in August 2005. Sea trials
were completed in early 2008 to validate the systems hydrodynamic behaviour.

US NAVY UNMANNED PLATFORMS SPEND PLAN
The US Navy (USN) is set to increase its funding of unmanned platforms over the next few years.
The navy plans to spend US$6 billion across the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) – a five‐year
budget projection – on unmanned platforms. The total US$6 billion includes US$4 billion for
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and US$1 billion each for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and
unmanned underwater vehicles ((UUVs). Other unmanned systems scheduled for use with the LCS

are also moving ahead despite the delays. Tests in San Diego harbour of a USV based on a rigid hull
inflatable boat (RHIB), which is operated by remote control and is radar equipped. The navy is now
considering whether to weaponise this USV with 70 mm (2.75 inch) rockets and an infrared sensor.
The service has also successfully tested the LCS AN/WLD‐1 remote mine‐hunting system.

UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLES (UUVs) - SECTOR REPORT