Who needs sailors? US Navy's latest robo-ship can run itself for 30 days
- Reference: 1677027673
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/02/22/us_navy_autonomous_ship/
- Source link:
American shipbuilder Austal, which manufactured the vessel, has effectively added autonomous capabilities to a catamaran-style Spearhead class expeditionary fast transport ( [1]EPF ) similar to those the biz has been building for the US Navy since 2012.
All Spearhead-class vessels include Austal's machinery control systems (MCS), which "allow the ship to be minimally manned by centralizing machinery operations to the bridge." However, this one – USNS Apalachicola (EPF-13) – is the first craft to be fitted with automated maintenance, health monitoring and mission readiness software that will enable it to conduct "up to 30 days of operation without human intervention," Austal [2]announced .
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With a hull length of 103 meters (337 feet), Apalachicola will be the US Navy's largest-ever autonomous craft. Spearhead-class vessels have a maximum speed of 40 knots, a maximum payload capacity of 544 metric tons, and a draft of just 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) – meaning it's also fast and can operate in quite shallow waters for its size.
USNS Newport, the 12th ship of the Spearhead class and sister ship to the Apalachicola
EPF-13 will also be the first Spearhead-class ship to include support for V-22 vertical takeoff and landing flight operations as well as launch and recovery of rigid hull inflatable boats 11 meters long.
[4]IBM AI boat to commemorate historic US Mayflower voyage finally lands… in Canada
[5]Drone ship carrying yet more drones launches in China
[6]Autonomous Mayflower to attempt Atlantic crossing, again
[7]The human-devoid AI-powered Saildrone Surveyor ship just made it to Hawaii from SF
Between its existing and new capabilities, Apalachicola will "open up so many opportunities for unmanned missions in various operations, as an autonomous prototype," according to Austal CEO Paddy Gregg. The vessel [8]could be used in future operations as an unmanned missile platform, anti-submarine weapon, radar and sensor craft, or [9]drone mothership .
That's not to say that Apalachicola won't operate with at least some crew – Austal wasn't clear on how much onboard space had to be sacrificed to add the computing power required to make it autonomous. In its basic configuration, the Spearhead class supports crew berthing for 41 sailors, embarked troop berthing for an additional 104 people, and airline-style seating for an additional 312 people – presumably Marines being ferried a short distance.
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Autonomous boats still need meat-based assistants
You may remember IBM and marine research nonprofit ProMare's attempts at sailing a fully automated ship across the Atlantic Ocean in 2021 and 2022. If you do, you'll likely recall how both attempts ended: poorly.
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In 2021, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) set sail for the US with plans to trace the original journey of the vessel that carried more than 100 disaffected English religious extremists to North America in 1620.
MAS made it [13]three days before a mechanical failure took it out of commission.
A second attempt [14]last April resulted in a [15]mechanical failure necessitating a port call for repairs, and a little over a week later the craft experienced an [16]electrical fault that forced it to set course for [17]Halifax , Nova Scotia. Which is in the wrong country.
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The MAS did eventually reach Plymouth, but it's hard to call the mission a success given it required two unplanned maintenance stops.
With those ill winds at its back, it's unclear whether Austel intends, or the Navy plans, to keep a skeleton crew onboard the Apalachicola to avoid it having to be followed by a support vessel, which would severely limit its "autonomous capability." We posed this question to Austal but didn't get a response. ®
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://usa.austal.com/ships/expeditionary-fast-transport-epf
[2] https://www.austal.com/news/austal-usa-delivers-epf-13-us-navys-largest-surface-vessel-autonomous-capability
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y-WhcGuh1hmdUeLglEo3eQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/07/ibm_mayflower_canada/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/29/unmanned_dronecarrying_research_ship_launches/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/29/ibm_autonomous_mayflower/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/saildrone_surveyor_radar/
[8] https://navalpost.com/unmanned-expeditionary-fast-transport-epf-vessel-13-apalachicola/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/29/unmanned_dronecarrying_research_ship_launches/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y-WhcGuh1hmdUeLglEo3eQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y-WhcGuh1hmdUeLglEo3eQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y-WhcGuh1hmdUeLglEo3eQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/19/in_brief_ai/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/29/ibm_autonomous_mayflower/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/11/mayflower_autonomous_ship/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/02/ibm_mayflower_ship/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/07/ibm_mayflower_canada/
[18] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y-WhcGuh1hmdUeLglEo3eQAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Hardly an apples to apples comparison
This thing is huge, and has extensive communications links. Also, improvements in computing being what they are, you could probably run the ship off a mid range cell phone. You could run the original systems in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex off of one frankly. You SHOULDN'T obviously, but most of these ships were running of 80's and 90's era systems originally.
Also remote operated may be a less misleading description. I suspect that it could operate to some degree without breaking comms silence for quite a while, and in the open ocean that may be reasonable. "go to Lat/Long x.xxx by y.yyy and if you don't have a radar or sonar contact or intrusion alert on the boarding ladder, wait there for 24 hours and don't shoot at any craft with an NATO IFF transponder lit" In all other cases, fire up the satellite link and let some desk jockey on the US east coast tell you what to do next.
I suspect that in most cases there will be plenty of crew on board, but it might make sense to keep a really lean skeleton crew if you were, for example picking up a squad of airborne rangers inserted into re-enforce Taiwan and needed to pick them up in an area that hadn't been fully cleared of anti-ship missles, subs, and mines. No reason to put extra crew at risk for the ride in. Of course the hundreds of Marines/rangers/etc probably might have some colorful expressions for the ride back when the boat is remotely piloted by REMFs instead of actual crew you could kick in the dick if they screw up when your life is on the line. But the capability is nice.
An autonomous mine sweeper would also be a logical next step, and this is already a fairly close platform. Once the kinks are worked out they could also serve as pickets for a carrier group, with sonar, radar, and probably some over the horizon missiles strapped to the deck. It just makes sense to minimize risk to crews that otherwise would be the closest to enemy action.
Which will be a very useful thing if the tensions in the south china sea don't cool off. Of course being the US, they will be late and over budget, and probably still in service for WW4, whoever ends up fighting that.
Never mind, the original Mayflower landed in the wrong country
The people sent from England on the Mayflower were supposed to be going to -- and had a license to settle in -- Virginia. Ending up in Massachusetts is like aiming for MS and hitting Nova Scotia.
As for this boat, it underscores what the Chinese foreign minister said in Munich recently -- "NATO just causes trouble". I can't think of too many reasons why the US needs inshore raiding vessels for coastal defense.
Re: Never mind, the original Mayflower landed in the wrong country
>I can't think of too many reasons why the US needs inshore raiding vessels for coastal defense.
You forget that the USA lives under constant threat of Cuban invasion
Re: Never mind, the original Mayflower landed in the wrong country
the USA lives under constant threat of Cuban invasion
My son lives in Florida, and he can hardly sleep at night. I'm pretty sure a Cuban is responsible for that.
"American Shipbuilder Austal" - Ummmm you might want to go and have a look at that.... AUST - AL as in Australian Aluminium........
Unlikely to be operating alone in any event. I could imagine a group with Navy people moving around leaving some "uncrewed" at times.
Automatics Work Great ... Until They Don't
The economics of these things are chance-of-incapacitating failure ("We're on fire and the automatic monitoring/control circuits are inoperative!") vs the need to pack more payload (Marines and their equipment) in.
The Marines being transported mostly-are-not repair personnel qualified/effective in repairing Spearhead -class ships.