Faced with a growing threat from China, the Navy envisions drone ships electronically keeping tabs on enemy forces across the vast Pacific, extending the range of firepower and dodging sailors.
The Navy is accelerating development of these robotic ships as an affordable way to keep up with China’s growing fleet, and vows not to repeat costly shipbuilding mistakes of recent years.
The four largest drone ships will be deployed together in a multinational naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean this summer.
Other smaller water drones are already being used by the Navy’s 5th Fleet in the waters off the Middle East.
The goal in the coming years is to see how the radar and sensors of these research vessels can be combined with artificial intelligence and integrated with traditional cruisers, destroyers, submarines and aircraft carriers to create a connected fleet that is resilient, because it’s spread out over longer distances and harder for enemies to destroy, the Navy says.
“It’s about advancing the technology and having confidence in the capability. Everything takes time,” said Cmdr. Jeremiah Daley, Commanding Officer of Unmanned Surface Vessel Division One in California.
The Navy believes the technology can help with the three keys to military success — weapons range, reconnaissance, and command and control — at reduced cost and risk to personnel, said James Holmes, a professor at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Iceland .
But all of these benefits, along with long-term durability in a harsh saltwater environment, need to be proven, he said.
“We’re in Jerry Maguire’s show me the money territory with the tech. It will undoubtedly be useful, but whether it will be a game changer is far less clear,” said Holmes, who does not speak for the Navy.
After a series of shipbuilding debacles, the Navy must first win over a skeptical Congress before moving on.
His fast coastal battleships had propulsion problems that led to early retirements. His stealth destroyer’s “Advanced Gun System” broke due to expensive ammunition. And its newest aircraft carrier had problems with elevators and a new system for launching aircraft.
Critics said the Navy has rushed to cram too much new technology onto these ships, leading to breakdowns and rising costs.
“We can’t just throw all our resources at (robot ships) with a track record of 20 years of failed ship programs,” said Democratic Representative Elaine Luria of Virginia, a retired Navy officer.
The Navy’s unmanned task force is taking a fresh approach, using a military equivalent of a venture capital model to advance new ideas and only moving forward once the technologies are proven, said Michael Stewart, the task force’s director.
This summer, four large drone ships are working alongside conventional ships during the war games called RIMPAC.
These include the Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk, diesel-powered vessels fitted with outriggers for stability in rough seas. The other two are Ranger and Nomad, which are based on oil rig resupply ships. They have large flat decks from which a missile was successfully launched last year.
As these larger vessels are tested in the Pacific, the Navy is already seeing promising results with smaller, commercially available vessels being evaluated by Task Force 59, part of Bahrain’s 5th Fleet, Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, spokesman for the 5th Fleet.
One of the ships that has attracted attention is the Saildrone, a sail-powered ship with solar-powered systems. Equipped with radar and cameras, saildrones are touted to be able to operate autonomously for months without maintenance or resupply.
Based on the success of multinational exercises last winter, the 5th Fleet, the U.S. Navy and international partners said they intend to deploy 100 unmanned ships by next summer.
All in all, Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, predicts a mix of 150 large unmanned surface ships and underwater ships by 2045. There are also more than 350 conventional combat ships.
The Navy’s proposed spending for the new fiscal year includes $433 million for unmanned surface vessels and $284 million for underwater vessels.
Coupled with artificial intelligence, these ships have the potential to make the Navy’s fleet much more effective, said Gilday, the Navy’s top officer. But the Navy is approaching research and development “in an evolutionary, conscious and informed manner,” he said.
The biggest advantage of robotic ships is that they could be built at a fraction of the cost of traditional warships as the Navy struggles to keep up with China and Russia, said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute. The US is already lagging behind China in terms of shipping numbers, and the gap is widening every year.
But Congress is in no rush to fund new programs, said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute. “Congress wants the Navy to have a good plan — and then aggressively pursue it,” Clark said.
On Capitol Hill, Luria said there could be a place for uncrewed ships, perhaps as a replacement for missile capabilities for ships the Navy wants to withdraw. But it will take a lot of research and development to convince Congress to invest heavily in sailless ships.
“I just don’t think the technology is mature enough now to make a major investment,” said Luria, D-Virginia.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, chair of the Naval Power Subcommittee, said Gilday assured her that the Navy “is aware not to rush with unproven technology.”
“The Navy must get this right the first time and support rigorous testing with prototypes before committing to any fleet purchase,” said Hirono, D-Hawaii.
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Sharp reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report in Providence, Rhode Island.
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Follow David Sharp on Twitter @David_Sharp_AP