U.S Navy’s 1st fully autonomous ship takes the Port of Everett waters(video)
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T he U.S. Navy’s first-ever fully autonomous vessel, which can sail without a crew, has been christened in the Port of Everett.
The ship, named the USX-1 Defiant, is the prototype resulting from about five years of work by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).Well now, that is something. It will be very interesting to follow this and see how the long voyage in open seas works out. Hard to believe this could actually work, how does it fix a part that breaks? what if the backup brakes too? Seems like this would be good for very specific uses and not something that could/would be used universally replacing crews within the navy.
If I had to guess what is ahead (and I’m no expert in any way), you’re going to see future carrier strike groups loaded up with autonomous vessels of various sizes and roles. Maintenance and repair performed by the human crews of nearby, and much more valuable ships. I think you’re right that universal crew replacement isn’t in the cards any time soon, but they will start to be augmented much sooner.
Reply To Bad Wabbit #12103 This doesn’t look particularly seaworthy. The old Ticonderoga’s were subject to the waves due to their thinner hulls and top heavy design. This thing is considerably skinnier. It would probably make for a great port defense platform if you put 2-6 cheap ASCMs, and automated turrets on it.
REPLY TO REGULARGUY #12113: This is similar to the view I have held for a while. They advent, proliferation, and mass production of decent anti-ship cruise missiles favors having more shooters rather than a single large ship with lots of missiles and aircraft. Not that the CSG is going away, just that it will likely not be the tip of the spear. I expect primary combatants (destroyers, cruisers) will be supported by smaller manned combatants (frigates, corvettes) with a nexus of USVs, UUVs, UAVs, and recoverable loitering munitions like the Anduril Roadrunner. That type of Surface Action Group (SAG) would be much more adept at going undetected and could clear the way for a larger battleforce in the form of a CSG.
To go along with this, supply ships tend to be less capable of stealthy maneuvers so we may see more 3D printing (additive manufacturing) added to the primary combatants along with deeper logistics networks like we are seeing built in the Pacific between the US, Japan, and Australia.
Yeah it certainly stands to reason that as the role of manned aircraft is diminished, there will be a transition away from $30bn targets toward a more “quantity has a quality of it’s own” approach. In the meantime, the carriers will get a combined manned/autonomous screen that you will barely be able to see the sky (or the ocean) through 😀
Thanks @jared-2-2-2 appreciate your input. Port Defense is pretty important, even though it might not seem like it now, since we rarely have anything happen at a port, but I can certainly see it becoming an issue in the future, although you’d think that would be more land-based. Is this just “cuz I can” development, or do you see this having a real world application in the near term?
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