Terminator Times #40

Drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles):

The US will provide Lebanon with ScanEagle drones.

A drone struck a US Army helicopter.

The US Army Research Lab designed quickly 3d printable drones.

The USAF is retiring the MQ-1 Predator this summer.

The USAF's Global Hawk is getting a new optical sensor.

The USAF just gave a $48 million contract to Aurora for its Orion UAV.

The USMC has been testing fully autonomous helicopters.

USMC VMU-4 retired its last RQ-7b.

Two Marines UAV operators received Achievement Medals with the Remote 'R' Impact device.

The US Navy has placed its first LRIP order for the Triton.

China's Wing Loong II hit multiple targets with five different types of munitions a test run.

India is advancing its procurement of General Atomics Guardian UAVs.

The Israeli Navy is working on a VTOL UAV for its ships.

Russian UAV teams practiced jamming attacks on simulated opponents.

Taiwan will launch the production of the Teng Yun MALE UAV.

AeroVironment has teamed up with SoftBank to develop a long persistence, solar powered HALE drone.

Airbus has been testing autonomous fly and landing capabilities for helicopters.

Airbus is getting help with its Zephyr pseudo satellite UAV.

BAe has been testing the MAGMA drone flown without control surfaces.

Boeing unveiled its MQ-25A Stingray entry: more pix here with a link to a video.  This is the follow-on to the UCLASS that turned from a stealthy strike asset to a tanker.  It appears Boeing updated its UCLASS design to be a tanker.  The prototype is undergoing engine trials and will conduct deck handling demonstrations in the coming year.

The FAA has approved and given a designation to the Boeing MQ-25 prototype: N234MQ.  Supposedly, the Navy wants t build up to 72 MQ-25s.

General Atomics got a $328+ million contract to support the Predator and Reaper drones.

Ogres & Bolos (Unmanned Ground Vehicles):

The US Army has selected four vendors for its SMET UGV program.

Robo Boats (Unmanned Surface Vehicles):

The US Navy has given Leidos another contract for a second Sea Hunter II USV.

China has been showing off the Tianxing-1, an armed USV capable of over 50 knots.

Israeli Seagull USVs were used for mine hunters for the HMS Ocean during an exercise.

Robo Subs (Unmanned Underwater Vehicles):

DARPA has awarded the payload bay design for the US Navy's Orca XLUUV.

General Atomics is building a permanent magnet motor for the US Navy's LDUUV.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen captured a US Navy UUV.

META:

The UN is getting hung up on just defining what killer robots are, nevermind any progress on actually banning them.

Saab has laid out its vision of manned/unmanned teaming in war.

US Navy set up Unmanned Office for UCLASS, LDUUV, two Other Programs

The Navy’s new offices for unmanned systems — that’s drones or robots to you and me — are a long-overdue reform, two top experts tell us. But, as emphasized by both our outside sources and the new Navy officials themselves, it’s equally important to understand the initiative’s limits. This is not an overhaul of the existing structure. It is a patch. The Navy wants to bring promising technologies out of the lab, through the funding “valley of death” into the regular acquisition system, and ultimately to the fleet.

So Skynet it ain’t. “We are not going to replace Marines. We are not going to go out there and replace sailors,” Frank Kelley, the retired Marine one-star who is now the first deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for unmanned systems, said at a recent AUVSI robotics conference. Nor does the reorganization signal the start of some big new unmanned weapons program or a new infusion of funding.

It doesn’t even put all the myriad existing programs under one roof. Most drones will remain under current management. Of the four that actually do fall under the new structure, two — the UCLASS drone and LDUUV mini-sub — will eventually outgrow it and transfer to the traditional aircraft and submarine bureaucracies when they’re ready to begin engineering work (Milestone B). A new Common Control System for use on multiple types of unmanned vehicles and general research on autonomy (artificial intelligence) will remain under Rear Adm. Robert Girrier, who as head of Navy staff section N99 is Kelley’s uniformed counterpart.

“I only own programs, by the way, that are pre-milestone B,” Girrier told a reporters Friday. “Right now I’ve got a total of four.”

link.

US Navy Solidifying Path Forward to Procuring Large Drone Submarines

The US Navy (USN) is solidifying a path towards acquisition of a large displacement unmanned underwater vehicle (LDUUV), an official said on 21 October.

The first increment of LDUUV will need to have the ability to not only launch and recover from both variants of the USN's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), but also to deploy from the Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine via the Virginia Payload Module, or a modernised drydeck shelter, said Rear Admiral Robert Girrier, director of the USN's new unmanned warfare systems (N99) division that was established in September.

link.

US Navy's ONR Developing AntiSub Warfare Package for Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle

The US Office of Naval Research (ONR) is to brief industry on plans for the development of an Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Mission Package (ASWMP) for its future Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV).

This so-called 'Leap Ahead Project' is intended to develop ASW techniques and technologies in the areas of mission autonomy, situational awareness, and undersea sensors.

ONR's LDUUV Innovative Naval Prototype programme is developing a fully autonomous, long endurance UUV capable of extended operation (more than 60 days) in cluttered littoral environments. The programme has to date built three vehicles and is developing energy, autonomy, and core systems to operate in complex ocean environments.

link.