Russia Begins Underwater Robot Construction for Fifth-Generation Submarines

Two Russian design bureaus began developing unmanned underwater vehicles for deployment by fifth-generation submarines, an official representative of the United Shipbuilding Corporation told RIA Novosti on Friday.

“The Rubin and Malakhit [design bureaus] are involved in the development. The decision to equip these devices and assigning them tasks will be taken during the layout shaping of the fifth-generation submarines,” the official said.

Britain’s Trident Nuclear Program at Risk From Unmanned Sub Drones

The UK Trident nuclear deterrent program – at the center of a row over its replacement – is at risk from a new generation of cheap underwater drones which could render the whole basis of submarine deployment useless, according to a new report.

The UK parliament is due to make a decision on replacing its ageing fleet of Vanguard class submarines, which carry the Trident II D-5 ballistic missiles to be used as a weapon of last resort as part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent program.

Pentagon considers underwater recharging stations for sub drones

 

The US Navy is aiming within the next 10 years to be able deploy unmanned, underwater pods where robotic mini-subs can recharge undetected and securely upload intelligence to Navy networks. “It’s a 7-Eleven underwater,” for robots, programmer manager Mike Wardlaw, of the Navy’s Forward-Deployed Energy and Communications Outpost (FDECO), told Breaking Defense.

The pods will allow the unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to dock, recharge, upload data and download new orders before shoving off again. FDECO will be designed to overcome the two main limitations on UUVs: power and communications.

DARPA considers unmanned submersible mothership designed to deploy UAVs and UUVs

ARLINGTON, Va., 23 July 2013. Unmanned vehicles designers at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., will brief industry next month on a project to develop an unmanned submersible designed to transport and deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) stealthily close to enemy operations.

DARPA will conduct industry briefings on the Hydra program from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on 5 Aug. 2013 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory – Kossiakoff Center in Laurel, Md. Briefings will precede release on a broad agency announcement (BAA) for the Hydra program, DARPA officials say.

The Hydra program will develop and demonstrate an unmanned undersea system with a new kine of unmanned-vehicle delivery system that inserts UAVs and UUVs. stealthily into operational environments to respond quickly to situations around the world without putting U.S. military personnel at risk.