US Navy takes delivery of ship that can operate autonomously for up to 30 days

[midian182]

What just happened? Shipbuilder Austal USA has delivered a ship to the US Navy that can operate for up to 30 days at sea without human intervention. The delivery comes after the Chief of Naval Operations said uncrewed vessels would start to play an increasingly important role within the military branch.

Austral writes that it has delivered Expeditionary Fast Transport USNS Apalachicola (EPF 13) to the United States Navy. Its 337-foot hull makes it the largest surface ship in the fleet with autonomous capabilities. This class of ship can travel at a maximum speed of 40 knots, has a maximum payload capacity of 544 metric tons, and a daft – the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull – of just 12.5 feet, allowing it to operate in comparatively shallow waters.

The Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport ships, designed by Austal Australia, already feature automated hull and mechanical & electrical systems, but the Austal USA team added automated maintenance, health monitoring, and mission readiness to EPF 13, allowing it to operate autonomously for up to 30 days.

Austal USA writes that the key to EPF 13's autonomous capabilities is the company's highly automated in-house designed machinery control system (MCS), which allows the ship to be minimally manned by centralizing machinery operations to the bridge.

The vessel will also be the Navy's first Spearhead-class ship with enhanced capabilities to support V-22 vertical take-off and landing flight operations and launch and recover 11-metre RHIBs (rigid hull inflatable boats).

Naval Post writes that the ship could be used as an unmanned missile launch platform, ASW platform, radar/sensor carrier, or a mother ship for small drones.

Admiral Michael Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations, sang the praises of autonomous ships at the West 2023 conference in San Diego. "We're getting to the point, probably within the next four or five years, where we'll begin to deploy unmanned platforms with carrier strike groups," he said. "And the idea is that we need more ships, we need more. We need to distribute ourselves across the Pacific Ocean and across the globe […] We can do that faster and, we think, more effectively by having a combination of manned and unmanned."

Gilday has a strategic vision of a fleet compromising 373 manned ships and 150 uncrewed vessels, along with unmanned aircraft to contribute to maritime domain awareness, submarine-hunting missions, surface strikes, and more, writes Defence News.

Those unmanned aircraft could come from Lockheed Martin, whose training jet was recently flown by an AI for 17 hours, marking the first time that artificial intelligence has been engaged in this way on a tactical aircraft.

Concerns over the use of AI in the military led to the first global Summit on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (REAIM) this month, where 60 nations signed an agreement to put the responsible use of AI higher on the political agenda.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97692-us-takes-delivery-ship-can-operate-autonomously-up.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Obviously there are several ships that could operate this way, especially re-supply ships, etc. The temptation will be to try to make every ship like this but limitations abound.

 

[psycros]

Obviously there are several ships that could operate this way, especially re-supply ships, etc. The temptation will be to try to make every ship like this but limitations abound.

The biggest issue would be the ease with which an enemy could board and take over. These ships might be able to act as "wingmen" to manned vessels but to let them roam the oceans freely would be madness.

 

[Uncle Al]

The biggest issue would be the ease with which an enemy could board and take over. These ships might be able to act as "wingmen" to manned vessels but to let them roam the oceans freely would be madness.

Highly doubtful. Autonomous weapons systems have been around a long time and could easily hold off such an enemy. Include an enemy/friendly transponder and identity would be hard to fake .... not impossible, but very hard. I agree that allowing them to roam freely would be stupid but most of these ships would have a point to point mission much like our current drone now have. Also, patrolling coastal waters with the mission to hold off "unknown" vessels would be a great mission with the Coast Guard on "stand by" to be alerted when one of these unknown vessels is found.

 

[netman]

Just make sure Tesla's Self Driving Software is not onboard...!

 

[Steveb8189]

The biggest issue would be the ease with which an enemy could board and take over. These ships might be able to act as "wingmen" to manned vessels but to let them roam the oceans freely would be madness.

Autodestruct!

 

[Lew Zealand]

"and a daft – the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull – of just 12.5 feet"

I believe that should be draft, not daft.

Unless I'm daft.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The only question that must be asked is "How much do these things cost?" because the US Navy has never been known to be even remotely cost-efficient. I remember how the US Navy was resisting the adoption of the F-35 and it made me wonder just how bad the F-35 must be if the US Navy didn't even want them.

 

[mbk34]

Why only 30 days? is that how long the fuel lasts or is there some other issue?

 

[alexnode]

Nothing can go wrong with AI controlled military. I love it .

 

[Hodor]

Why only 30 days? is that how long the fuel lasts or is there some other issue?

Because they didn't make it "nucular". But once they put a nuclear reactor inside (it should have a holographic badge like "Intel Inside") then it will be able to travel for years. Until eventually the Navy loses track of it. There's nothing more exciting than a rogue AI operating a nuclear device.

 

[mbrowne5061]

The only question that must be asked is "How much do these things cost?"

Probably less in the long-run than a crewed ship that size would normally cost.

I remember how the US Navy was resisting the adoption of the F-35 and it made me wonder just how bad the F-35 must be if the US Navy didn't even want them.

IIRC, that was more because they didn't have 100% control over every single requirement. The USN had to accept some compromises (like being a single engine), just like how the Air Force and the Marine had to accept compromises. Contrary to your point, it was the cost savings over the long-run that actually won them over. Instead of three part supply streams, the F-35 has one (for the most part) with the costs shared between three services. To give some idea of scale, the F-35 is still classified as being "low rate initial production"... at ~150 deliveries a year. The number of F-35s across the world is going to be absolutely massive, which will give every operator maintenance cost savings.