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| U.S. Navy automated units testing |
The
specter of the “Killer Robot” seems to be the first thought in the minds of
many when the potential of automated military systems is discussed. Whether
today’s terrorist targeting drone aircraft, the murderous machines of science
fiction, or the insect-like fearsome package-deliverers of the advertising
world, the era of unmanned combat terrifies many in the general public. Less
explored, however, are the defensive concepts for the employment of swarm
technology. Many such concepts could be put to use in naval warfare for
scouting at sea, the defense of warships, the management of battle damage, and
treatment of wounded sailors. Emerging swarm technology in all of these areas
could make defense at sea less costly and more efficient, save damaged ships,
and especially the lives of highly trained 21st century sailors.
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| DASH (Gyrodyne Inc) |
The U.S. Navy has already made
significant investment in automated scouting in the form of air and surface
drones. The Navy pioneered such a mission with the Drone Antisubmarine
Helicopter (DASH) in the mid 1960’s in order to arm small combatants with a
rotary wing antisubmarine warfare capability.[1]
While DASH was not an overall success, it paved the way for future development
of rotary wing drone aircraft including the present Fire Scout. Similarly the
Navy has experimented with a number of unmanned surface vehicles for both
scouting and combat. In August 2014, a formation of such ships was demonstrated
in a James River exercise.[2]
These platforms were organized as an autonomous swarm to interrogate and
potentially attack surface-based opponents. They might resemble the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA) Antisubmarine Continuous
Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV).[3]
Armed with a variety of submarine, surface, and anti-air/missile payloads
connected to battle force networks, such units could form a protective,
unmanned ring around conventional warships.
Individual ships could also benefit
from very small swarming units for self defense and repair of battle damage.
The size of swarm-capable drone vehicles continues to decrease while still
supporting substantial computing capability. Very small swarming vehicles may
eventually cover parts of a ship’s external structure and be utilized for a
variety of missile defense tasks. They could be supported from a number of
external points in a fashion similar to the distribution of counter-measure
wash down nozzles. Once launched from these nodes, small, reusable drone units might use
swarm tactics to create a re-deployable chaff cloud, drop flares, and
eventually create defensive barriers against some cruise missiles. A
swarm-based cruise missile defense deployed by the host ship on a known threat
bearing might offer the possibility of engaging cruise missile “leakers” that
the ship’s traditional or future directed energy defenses fail to kill.
Ships might also benefit from
internal swarms for conducting firefighting and other damage control efforts. A
drone swarm released into a damaged compartment aboard a ship can quickly map
the scene, identify personnel casualties to be evacuated, and prioritize damage
much faster than a human investigator.[4] Google’sProject Tango may be the first step in the creation of such a swarm unit.[5] Such
small swarm units might be a better choice for shipboard damage control than
larger, humanoid firefighters currently under development.[6]
While one robot firefighter might be disabled by follow-on battle damage and
create a significant gap in unmanned capability, a swarm of robots might be
continuously replaced if degraded. Other
swarm units might deploy remote damage control monitoring sensors, firefighting
agents, and even swarm together to create a patch, or secure a
watertight door or hatch.
The large crews of past warships
were present to not only operate installed weapons and propulsion systems but also to
conduct damage control. The ongoing reduction of shipboard personnel makes this
crew mission more difficult to practice. Reduction in crew size must be accompanied
by increases in automated damage control measures. The drone swarm represents a
pragmatic solution to this problem in that one drone frame could support
multiple, modular damage control payloads. Such a drone force on a ship with a
small crew might help that vessel recover from damage faster than reliance on a
small crew alone would allow.
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| Artist Conception of ACTUV |
None of these advances in swarm
technology are immediately available, and achieving them will require
significant investment. The problems they would address, however, will only
grow more challenging over time. Present budgets will support fewer manned
warships than in the past.[7]
Adopting some variant of ACTUV in large numbers might allow the U.S. Navy to
move some of its offensive and defensive capabilities to battle force unmanned
ships and increase the overall size and combat power of the surface force. The
cruise and ballistic missile threats continue to increase. Development of a
potential swarm “shield” over manned surface ships may improve their
survivability against missile attack. Finally, warship crew size is unlikely to
increase. The reduction in shipboard personnel demands an increase in flexible,
automated damage control capabilities to replace those manual capabilities lost
with shrinking crews. Defensive swarm applications such as these should be
explored to improve survivability of both ships and the talented and expensive
personnel who man them now and in the future.
[1]
http://www.gyrodynehelicopters.com/dash_history.htm
[2]
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/10/inside-navys-secret-swarm-robot-experiment/95813/
[3]
http://www.naval-technology.com/news/newsdarpa-seeks-test-ready-multi-sensor-approaches-for-actuv-programme-4542407
[4]
http://shura.shu.ac.uk/3600/1/JAdvRobPenders.pdf
[5]
https://www.google.com/atap/project-tango/
[6]
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/12/tech/mci-saffir-robot/
[7]
http://www.hudson.org/research/11143-our-navy-is-getting-dangerously-smaller-and-no-one-is-paying-attention
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