Modern Times: Drones Take Out a Undersea Threat

The Republic of Singapore Navy kills a threat:

On 29 Jan 2021, a small underwater explosion occurred in the waters off our Southern Islands. It was barely noticeable, but it was a remarkable event.

The underwater explosion signified a successful neutralisation of an underwater threat by an unmanned surface vessel (USV) - a first in the world.

"It was exciting and satisfying to execute the deployment of a K-STER expendable mine disposal system (EMDS) against an underwater threat. After more than three years of development, and numerous rounds of planning and checks, we finally managed to achieve the successful launch and firing of an EMDS from an USV – a breakthrough in the deployment of USVs!" MAJ Lim Yoong Seet, Head of Readiness and Resource Section, 6 Flotilla shared.

Much more at Naval News here.

Also highlighted is the Singapore Armed Forces intent to upgrade its fleet to include a "Multi-Role Combat Vessel" described here as

Multi-Role Combat Vessel

The replacement of the RSN's Victory-class Missile Corvettes with the Multi-Role Combat Vessels (MRCVs) is proceeding as planned, with six MRCVs expected to be delivered by 2030. The MRCV employs key technologies such as configurable modular payloads and unmanned systems, allowing the vessel to function as a "mothership" for unmanned drones and vessels to conduct a range of missions from peace to war.

Picture from Singapore MINDEF.

Disaster Relief (and Other Uses) "Flying Cell Phone Towers"

"Flying Cell Phone Towers Go Mainstream" says Martin UAV and Fenix Group:

Fenix Group, a private VA based technology firm, has partnered with Martin UAV, a Texas based manufacturer of rugged utility drones to launch the world’s first drone capable of providing fully functional 4G cell phone service.

The feat may be a world’s first, and the company sees huge potential for government and industry with the flying cell phone tower, weighing in at under 55 pounds.

“When we first conceived the project, we knew we had to make it a priority,” said Dave Peterson, Fenix Group’s President & CEO.

“The market is just there for this right now and Martin UAV immediately understood that.”

“Beyond tactical closed networks for DoD at huge cost savings over what is currently being fielded, the marriage of unmanned systems with LTE core networks is representative of what Google was trying to do with their Loon program.”

“We beat Google at something, for very little money, and that feels great.”
***
In addition to providing a coverage area on the ground, the payload is also able to stream encrypted video from the drone’s camera system to anyone on the network.

In the future, soldiers, search and rescue teams, and first responders will have access to drone video from their phones. The Fenix team even went so far as to enable Internet access so that command centers could access the feed from anywhere in the world.

Yes, it's advertising, but the tech idea is great.

Fuel From Sea Water? Navy Research Lab Has a Patent

NRL Receives US Patent for Carbon Capture Device: A Key Step in Synthetic Fuel Production from Seawater says the press release from NRL's Daniel Parry:

The world’s oceans cover approximately 70 percent of Earth’s surface and contain roughly 93 percent of the planet’s carbon dioxide (CO2). With around 38,000 gigatons (Gt) of carbon, our world’s oceans contain 16 times as much carbon as that found on land or in the atmosphere combined.

“With greater attention being directed at mitigating the effects CO2 can have on the environment, an interesting and attractive alternative is to recycle the gas into energy-rich molecules,” said Dr. Heather Willauer, research chemist, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). “The process, based on Fischer–Tropsch technology, is CO2 neutral and eliminates the emission of sulfur and nitrogen compounds that are produced from the combustion of petroleum derived fossil fuels.”

Building on the concept of capturing this natural resource, researchers at NRL have developed and received patent 9,719,178, issued Aug. 1 by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO), for an electrolytic-cation exchange module (E-CEM). Under this design, the E-CEM is capable of both producing hydrogen (H2) and simultaneously extracting CO2 from seawater.

“In our previous work, the initial scale-up and integration of the E-CEM into a skid platform provided us the data needed to establish faster acidity equilibrium for future modules and improve energy efficiencies and production,” said Willauer. “This technology provides the Navy the capability to produce fuel stock, at sea or in remote locations, for the production of synthetic LNG, CNG, F-76, and JP-5 petroleum products.”

Located at NRL's Marine Corrosion Facility, Key West, Florida, the next generation, modified E-CEM, demonstrates the progressive steps forward toward integrating and commercializing these systems. The result, at present, is a 33 percent improvement in production time of CO2 and H2 with a feedstock production rate of a single E-CEM capable of producing more than one gallon of fuel per day — contributing to the removal of nearly five tons of CO2 per year.(emphasis added)

Well, cleans up the CO2, produces hydrogen for fuel as well as carbon. Sounds like a winner.

Producing fuel at sea? Time for that Arthur C. Clarke quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

ASW Via Drone Boats

Via the Early Bird Brief and C4ISRNet, comes this report of a product test, Elbit demonstrates anti-submarine drone:

Remotely guided by human operators through satellite communications, the Seagull sailed in the Haifa Bay, Israel, to perform the anti-submarine mission using control consoles 2,200 miles away.

“Operating its dipping sonar and Elbit Systems‘ proprietary software, Seagull performed real-time detections and classification of objects, demonstrating capability to deter and dissuade hostile subsurface activity,” according to a Elbit announcement. “The Seagull team included two operators, a USV operator and sonar operator.”

More from the Elbit corporate website:

The Seagull Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) systems have superior mine counter measures (MCM) capability. This USV facilitates end-to-end mine hunting operations, including detection, classification, location, identification and neutralization of bottom, moored and drifting sea mines while taking the sailor out of the mine field.

The Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capability provides the navy with a significant tactical advantage by effectively deterring and threatening enemy submarines using an available asset with significantly lower risk.

Featuring switchable, modular mission payload suites, Seagull can perform ASW and

MCM, electronic warfare (EW), maritime security (MS), hydrography and other missions using the same vessels, mission control system and data links.

And more here:

Seagull is a 12-meter long USV that can be operated from a mother-ship or from shore stations. It provides multi-mission capabilities including ASW, Mine Hunting & Mine Sweeping (MCM), Electronic Warfare (EW), maritime security and underwater commercial missions, leveraging modular mission system installation and offering a high level of autonomy.

It features inherent C4I capabilities for enhanced situation awareness and mission endurance of more than four days.

I can see a use for these things. Lots of uses, in fact.


All photos from ELbit Systems.

Anti-Submarine Warfare in the 21st Century, Sea "Gliders" Division

Or, as the Sam LaGrone USNI News piece is titled, Navy Deploying Unmanned Gilders from Destroyers to Help ASW Mission, and, no, these are not sail plane air craft, but rather mini ships:

The Navy is set to deploy unmanned buoyancy gliders from its guided missile destroyers in an effort to expand its anti-submarine warfare edge.

The service has used the gliders – that use wave action to travel under the water to record information like water temperature and pressure – to build complex models of the ocean depths the service uses as part of its ASW and mine warfare efforts.

Read the USNI News article for more on this promising use of unmanned tech to help expand the Navy's awareness sphere.

Fire Scout? We don't need no stinkin' Fire Scout . . .

Every now and then CDR Salamander has been known to refer to some of my posts. Turnabout being fair play, let's look at his recent post on the proposed cancellation of the rotary winged MQ-8 Fire Scout drone "wonder copter" as set out in "Because after awhile, people tire of being made the fool"

The whole helo-drone program was a good experiment, but as with many experiments as of late - it was . . . oversold . . .

Some of you may recall that prototype of unmanned aerial vehicles, the Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter (DASH), which has graced these pages before. A program that wandered through the fleet and other places for something like 44 years ending in this final flight (long video - 46 minutes- flying stuff begins about 33:50):



During its day, DASH was used for ASW, gun spotting and as the butt of a zillion sea stories: "It went out and then disappeared over the horizon." In its evolution out of the fleet, some spotted a conspiracy:

The frequently asked question of "Why is it that an aircraft that was so ahead-of-its-time, then in the 1960s, is not used by our Navy/military, today" from our public and military visitors alike needs to be answered and here at the Gyrodyne Helicopter Historical Foundation (GHHF), we felt that the NAVY should answer that question.
Accordingly, here is an internal Navy memo, since declassified, written by Lieutenant Commander Ira B. Anderson USN in 1970 to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) which offers a glimpse of the internal struggle waged by the Naval Aviators which were frightened at the possibility of being replaced by Drones and the Drone supporters who were convinced that being freed of concern over the loss of human life, true expansion of the military applications of Drones/UAVs could be attained furthering our nations offensive and defensive capabilities.
In that struggle for control, the Navy failed to support its' state-of-the-art UAV program (the first of its kind in the world) and therefore failed DASH.

On the other hand, one of the highlights of the Navy League's Sea, Air and Space Exposition was a report on a software and hardware package that would allow any helicopter to be converted to an unmanned aircraft, as set out here:

A package of sensors and software that is claimed to be able to turn any helicopter into an unmanned craft has passed two demonstration flights.

"In the demonstration tests at Quantico, a Marine with no prior experience with the technology was given a handheld device and 15 minutes of training," said a press release from the Office of Naval Research. "The Marine was able to quickly and easily program in the supplies needed and the destination, and the helicopters arrived quickly-even autonomously selecting an alternative landing site based on last-second no-fly-zone information added in from the Marine.

The Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System AACUS consists of a sensor and software package that can be fitted to manned helicopters to avoid obstacles in low visibility conditions. The same package also enables a helicopter to become an unmanned aircraft.

"A self-flying robot with laser beams. It doesn't get much cooler than that."

Okay. It's being used for cargo helicopters. How about if you put one of those packages on - say- a Super Cobra? A relatively low-cost anti-surface weapon system launched from an LCS? Or any ship with a flight deck?

We already own the aircraft - and they don't need to be state of the art to do that sort of mission. Just saying . . .

Office of Naval Research AACUS info here.

So, the basic question is whether the expense of Fire Scout can be re-directed to making AACUS available for non-cargo use? If so, why pay to develop Fire Scout?

Energy: A Way to Mine Methane Hydrates for Natural Gas?

Interesting research into potential new source of natural gas reported at Field [trial] to safely extract steady flow of natural gas from methane hydrates successful:

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today the completion of a successful, unprecedented test of technology in the North Slope of Alaska that was able to safely extract a steady flow of natural gas from methane hydrates – a vast, entirely untapped resource that holds enormous potential for U.S. economic and energy security. Building upon this initial, small-scale test, the Department is launching a new research effort to conduct a long-term production test in the Arctic as well as research to test additional technologies that could be used to locate, characterize and safely extract methane hydrates on a larger scale in the U.S. Gulf Coast.

So, what the heck are "methane hydrates?" See here:

Methane hydrate is a cage-like lattice of ice inside of which are trapped molecules of methane, the chief constituent of natural gas. If methane hydrate is either warmed or depressurized, it will revert back to water and natural gas. When brought to the earth's surface, one cubic meter of gas hydrate releases 164 cubic meters of natural gas. Hydrate deposits may be several hundred meters thick and generally occur in two types of settings: under Arctic permafrost, and beneath the ocean floor. Methane that forms hydrate can be both biogenic, created by biological activity in sediments, and thermogenic, created by geological processes deeper within the earth.

One concern stirred by any long-term warming in the Arctic is that deposits of methane hydrates might warm enough to naturally release methane - which, according to some theories, might contribute to global warming because methane is a "greenhouse" gas. Being able to tap into such methane hydrates and mine them for their natural gas would provide another, potentially huge, source of natural gas. Natural gas is, of course, considered a "clean" fuel. So, using the gas trapped in the methane hydrates might work to preclude the "methane hydrate" disaster some have predicted:

Paleoclimatologists now believe that large scale, natural methane hydrate releases have been partly but significantly responsible for short-cycle global warming and global cooling cycles in the past. The recent discoveries in the Arctic, in fact, are thought to suggest that methane releases have contributed to the global warming that has occurred since the last ice age 15,000 years ago. [2]

The problem is that these methane releases have a strong positive feedback loop. As they increase the warming of the atmosphere that warming in turn increases methane release which in turn increases warming which in turn releases more...... You get the picture. Acceleration of global warming through this positive feedback loop, by increased methane concentration in the atmosphere, far more than CO2 concentrations, represents, to paleoclimatologists, a far greater risk of pushing us into the Venus effect, runaway global warming.

Additional research has been conducted in the Gulf of Mexico:

On May 6, 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Minerals Management Service, an industry research consortium led by Chevron, and others completed a landmark gas hydrate drilling expedition. The objective of the 21-day expedition was to confirm that gas hydrate can and does occur at high saturations within reservoir-quality sands in the Gulf of Mexico. This objective was fully met, with highly saturated hydrate-bearing sands discovered in at least in two of three sites drilled.

Gas hydrate is a unique substance comprised of natural gas (almost exclusively methane) in combination with water. Gas hydrate is thought to exist in great abundance in nature and has the potential to be a significant new energy source to meet future energy needs. However, prior to this expedition, there was little documentation that gas hydrate occurred in resource-quality accumulations in the marine environment.

Running out of energy, are we? Seems like we are not.

Just learning to develop the resources better.

DOE press release on Arctic work here. All images from DOE.

Save the Whales: NOAA has an app for that

Credit: NOAA, Taken under NOAA Fisheries Permit #605-1904

NOAA announces that a "New iPad, iPhone app helps mariners avoid endangered right whales":

Mariners along the U.S. east coast can now download a new iPad and iPhone application that warns them when they enter areas of high risk of collision with critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. The free Whale Alert app provides one source for information about right whale management measures and the latest data about right whale detections, all overlaid on NOAA digital charts.

“Whale Alert represents an innovative collaboration to protect this critically endangered species,” said David Wiley, NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary research coordinator and project lead. “Whale conservation is greater than any one organization and this project shows how many organizations can unite for a good cause.”

Credit: NOAA

A key feature of Whale Alert is a display linking near real-time acoustic buoys that listen for right whale calls to an iPad or iPhone on a ship’s bridge showing the whale’s presence to captains transiting the shipping lanes in and around Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. “The idea that right whales are directly contributing to conservation through their own calls is pretty exciting,” said Christopher Clark, whose team at the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology helped develop the acoustic detection and warning system.

North Atlantic right whales, which live along North America’s east coast from Nova Scotia to Florida, are one of the world’s rarest large animals and a species on the brink of extinction. Recent estimates put the population of North Atlantic right whales at approximately 350 to 550 animals. Collision with ships is a leading cause of right whale death.
***

Way cool.

Gotta love the technology.