Unmanned/Minimally-manned Underwater Vehicle (UMUV)
Abstract
Increasing requirements for missions in shallow littoral waters have created a need for a survivable and cost-effective capability to perform intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, antisubmarine warfare, special operations forces, and other missions in the littorals. Today we risk manned submarines in waters that are shallower than the length of our hulls and we pit these high value assets against diesel electric submarines that in some cases pose an overmatching threat against our systems in these shallow waters. The Unmanned/Minimally-manned Underwater Vehicle (UMUV) program will develop a vehicle specifically designed to operate in the littoral battlespace with the capability of performing littoral missions that span a wide range of complexity and can be performed with a small manned crew or autonomously (ie, unmanned) depending upon mission requirements. The UMUV will have the autonomy, range and endurance to drive to the fight from a safe basing location, will be capable of carrying the full range of payloads that are needed to support operational needs in littoral waters, and will provide the capability to perform missions where risk to personnel limits our willingness to execute these missions. The program will explore low-cost derivatives of commercial underwater vehicles, the integration of advanced communication and sensor technologies, and the teaming of the UMUV with manned systems. The UMUV program will transition to the Navy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2012
- Source ID
- 15c72051507d00b1511965b3fa9db4a7