Maritime Superiority Thanks to Autonomous Swarm Vessels

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New naval technology will increase the lethality of U.S. forces, with a network of unmanned vessels traveling autonomously for extended ranges and transporting loitering munitions to address targets at sea and on land.

Shipbuilder Metal Shark has been contracted to develop and implement the Long Range Unmanned Surface Vessel (LRUSV) System for the Marine Corps.

This tiered, scalable weapons system will provide the ability to accurately track and destroy targets at range throughout the battlespace. While fully autonomous, the vessels may be optionally manned and they will carry multiple payloads, which they will be capable of autonomously launching and retrieving.

Autonomous technology developer Spatial Integrated Systems (SIS) will provide the autonomy solution for the LRUSV system. The company specializes in the development of multivessel collaborative “swarming” autonomous capabilities, sensor fusion and perception.

Under an agreement with Marine Corps Systems Command, Metal Shark will design, build, test, and implement the vessels and will handle the integration of the autonomy system and an advanced command and control (C2) software suite.

The company will also produce manned support vessels for the LRUSV system utilizing its 40 Defiant military patrol craft platform, which the builder is currently producing for the Navy’s new “40 PB” patrol boat fleet, as reported by workboat.com.