Implementation of Unmanned Surface Vehicles in the Distributed Maritime Operations Concept
Abstract
This thesis investigates the integration of unmanned surface vehicles into the order of battle for Distributed Maritime Operations. The purpose is to design a cost effective and operationally effective unmanned system of systems capable of contributing the DMO concept in the 2030-2035 timeframe. This thesis determines the mission set and combination of USVs that is both operationally impactful and cost effective in the conventional carrier strike group, expeditionary strike group and/or surface action group, and whether unmanned systems could potentially replace or supplement a number of current manned systems mission sets. The primary finding is that USVs can significantly supplement manned assets in the following two mission areas: (1) Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission set, and (2) the anti-missiledefense mission set. The secondary finding is an initial $500 million investment into building approximately 10 USV platforms, with the aforementioned mission sets, is paramount to meet the measures of effectiveness described in this thesis. The authors recommendation for the U.S. Navy is to implement a standardized USV design, focusing on an AMD and ISR mission package. Secondly, the investment ofapproximately $500 million to build 10 of these platforms and integrate them into one of the current CSGs, ESGs, or SAGs, would be the stepping stone for transition to implementing USVs into the future fleet.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1069834
Entities
People
- Peter J. Winstead
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School