LAS VEGAS—Textron [TXT] subsidiary AAI is gearing up to offer its unmanned surface vessel to the Navy to primarily carry out mine hunting and neutralizing missions but could also be used for surface and anti-submarine warfare, a company executive said this week.
AAI is touting its Common Unmanned Surface Vessel (CUSV) as it awaits a request for proposals later this year from the Navy for the Littoral Combat Ship’s (LCS) mine countermeasures mission module. Stanley DeGeus, an AAI director of advanced systems, said the company deployed two CUSVs off the California coast as part of the RIMPAC exercises that wrapped up Aug. 3.
DeGeus said one of the vessels carried a sonar to detect and plot mines while a second CUSV deployed the Sea Fox mine hunting and neutralization system. The 37-foot long CUSV can be semi-or fully autonomous, DeGeus said during the Association For Unmanned Vehicle System International (UAVSI) symposium here.
“We think this is the future of naval warfare,” DeGeus said. The CUSVs can be carried and deployed by the Freedom and Independence variants of the Littoral Combat Ship class, he said. During the RIMPAC run, the vessels were deployed from a pier in Oceanside, Calif., and have yet to be launched from a ship, he said.
The LCS are designed to carry three swappable mission modules: mine countermeasures (MCM), and surface and-anti-submarine warfare.
Although for the MCM mission package, DeGeus said the CUSVs could also deal with surface warfare and anti-submarine threats. The CSUVs could carry a towed array sonar to find subs and possibly deploy a torpedo to take them out, he said.
“The next question would be: Could you put lethal weapons in there?… he said. “That’s doable.”
AAI is also seeking out international customers for the CUSVs.