Sailors Not Required: DARPA Launches Fully Unmanned Warship Prototype

 

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Serco have launched the Defiant, a prototype unmanned surface vessel that was designed from the ground up for fully uncrewed naval operations. The ship has no provisions at all for human occupancy during operation.

The 180-foot, 240-tonne autonomous gray hull is in the water and will now undergo sea trials, beginning in the spring. Its crewless design has specific advantages, according to DARPA: without making room and allowances for people, there is little in way of a deckhouse, and the vessel has a narrower beam. This means less construction cost, less weight, better hydrodynamic efficiency, better stealth performance, and a better operating window in rough sea states, according to DARPA. 

The prototype is the product of the agency's No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program. DARPA has been running multiple tests to support the operating concept in parallel with construction, including at-sea refueling for a Defiant-sized vessel. The U.S. Navy's USV Squadron 1 conducted the test in partnership with DARPA using two experimental unmanned vessels, the crewboat-based Ranger and Mariner. 

Courtesy DARPA

The design objective is to produce an unmanned ship that has 90 percent reliability at sea for a year at a time, with minimal human intervention. Ryan Maatta, Marine Engineer Manager at SERCO and Deputy Program Manager for DARPA's NOMARS program, told Naval News that the design could drive "greatly reduced cost per mission hour."

"It's going to put more payload out on the ocean, more mission systems Out on the ocean for much cheaper than the Navy does traditionally," he said.