Sea Train
Abstract
The Sea Train program is supporting the delivery of masses of unmanned surface vessels into theater, without reliance on large, manned capital assets. The Sea Train program is developing and demonstrating approaches to exploit the efficiencies of longer slender hulls, while enabling a distributed fleet of tactical Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs). The Sea Train concept enables vessels that are efficient for transoceanic transport while enabling dispersed operations as individual vessels. The Sea Train program is developing and demonstrating connectors and approaches to couple the vessels, the control laws required to drive the vessel in open ocean conditions, sensor approaches to understand the wave environment to efficiently navigate the vessel, and the autonomy required to connect and disconnect the vessels without human intervention. The goal of this effort is to improve transport efficiency over what can be achieved with current monohull designs. This allows for the efficient transport of smaller vessels into and out of theater, an operation that is normally accomplished today by carrying smaller vessels on board larger vessels or reliance on at-sea refueling of smaller vessels. The anticipated transition partner is the Navy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2023
- Source ID
- 66d0fb45a33ff585d27e0c849f764443