The U.S. Navy recently awarded a contract to L3 to design and develop a prototype for a Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV), the first in the family of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) that the Navy has contracted (LaGrone, 2020). This prototype will help inform future efforts and the FY2021 President’s Budget includes funding for a second prototype (LaGrone, 2020). The Navy has an entire roadmap for the whole family of USVs below.
Figure 1
Navy Unmanned Surface
Vehicle Vision
As one can see the Navy’s Vision
(Figure 1) includes various sizes from small to large. According to LaGrone (2020),
this latest MUSV prototype is riding the successes of the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) efforts with the Sea Hunter vehicle (Figure 2) that was
used to explore USVs in the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) mission. The Vision (Figure 1) depicts that the medium
sized vehicles are projected to support the most Navy missions than any of the
other sized vehicles.
Figure 2
Defense Advanced Research
Project Agency’s Sea Hunter
The Navy has recently awarded a contract to 6 companies to assist in the requirement specification for the Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles (Shelbourne, 2017). This was based on Congressional concerns that the Navy might be proceeding too quickly in this size of vehicles without more specific concepts that could lead to spending money on unneeded requirements (Shelbourne, 20017). I find that this approach puts developers in the driver seat if they author the requirements that they may bid on in the future to fulfill. This would raise a conflict of interest flag in any program office if companies developed the requirements, so this approach needs to be fully transparent, and if kept with that in mind, might be an adequate approach to better understand what capabilities industry can actually achieve
The Navy’s approach
to use prototypes is a valid, and actually a favored approach used within the
Department of Defense to develop concepts and technologies, that if proven as
viable capabilities, can be pursued for production and fielding. Mathis explains that prototyping should be used
prior to defining requirements in his Summary of the National Defense Strategy
(2018, p.11). Prototyping is far less expensive
than establishing a full up program,,and can provide valuable perspectives on
where to go next in development. Even if
the prototype isn’t successful, the results of the outcome, whether those might
be failures or meets less than adequate expectations, can be valuable lessons
learned for future prototypes. A lot of
the Navy missions require specific positioning for long amounts of time in the
same area. These long endurance missions are a perfect use of unmanned surface
vehicles, that can loiter for substantial periods and execute the same missions
that the Navy’s manned ships are currently performing. I believe the track that the Navy is pursuing
is appropriate and will discover and develop capabilities through prototyping
without risking money or time to provide national defense missions.
References
Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency News (2018, January, 30).
https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2018-01-30a
LaGrone Sam (2020,
July, 14). Navy Awards Contract for
First Vessel In Its Family of
Unmanned Surface
Vehicles.
USNI News. https://news.usni.org/2020/07/14/navy-
awards-contract-for-first-vessel-in-its-family-of-unmanned-surface-vehicles
Mattis, James N. (2018). Summary of the 2018 National Defense Strategy of the United States ofAmerica: Sharpening the American Military’s Competitive Edge.
https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-
Summary.pdf.
Shelbourne, Mallory
(2020, September 4). 6
Companies Awarded Contracts to Start Work on
Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle. USNI News. https://news.usni.org/2020/09/04/6-companies-awarded-contracts-to-start-work-on-large-unmanned-surfacevehicle#:~:text=The%20Navy%20has%20awarded%20a,contract%20announcement%20from%20the%20Pentagon
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