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Robotics and Autonomous Systems

January 2023

JUST IN: Navy’s First ‘Extra’ Large Unmanned Sub to Go Underwater ‘Very Soon’

By Laura Heckmann
The Navy is preparing to transition its largest unmanned submarine to date from land-based testing to underwater trials “very soon,” a service official said Jan. 30.
Navy News

January 2023

Navy Mine Warfare Teeters Between Present, Future

By Jan Tegler
Sea-based mine warfare is in a state of flux, suspended between decades-old, manned technologies and a long-promised future of multi-domain unmanned drones capable of finding and neutralizing enemy mines or covertly mining in deep and shallow waters.
Navy News

July 2022

Double Duty: Shipyards Building Two Submarine Classes Simultaneously (UPDATED)

By Nick Adde
The design and construction of the next ballistic missile submarine entails addressing a host of unprecedented challenges for the Navy, according to service officials and experts.
Undersea Warfare

July 2022

JUST IN: Australia to Announce Nuclear-Powered Submarine Choice in Early 2023

By Josh Luckenbaugh
Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles said Australia plans to announce its choice of nuclear-powered submarine in the first quarter of 2023, as the nation looks to expand its underwater fleet as part of the AUKUS agreement.
Undersea Warfare

March 2021

Columbia Submarine Program Challenges Supply Chains

By Jon Harper
The effort to build the Navy’s next-generation ballistic missile submarine has moved into the full construction phase, but the sea service and its industry partners face supply chain challenges as they work to keep the project on track.
Navy News

September 2020

JUST IN: New Navy Lab to Accelerate Autonomy, Robotics Programs

By Yasmin Tadjdeh
Over the past few years, the Navy has been building out a new family of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles in a variety of sizes through various prototyping efforts. It is now standing up an integration lab to enable the systems with increased autonomy, officials said Sept. 8.
Navy News

October 2019

NEWS FROM EWC: Navy Improving Mine Warfare Capabilities to Counter Russia, China

By Connie Lee
The Navy must improve its mine warfare capabilities as it faces an era of great power competition, said one top Navy mine official Oct. 22.
Undersea Warfare

September 2019

Royal Navy Employing AI for Mine Hunting

By Mandy Mayfield
The United Kingdom’s Royal Navy is utilizing artificial intelligence to enable autonomous mine-hunting vessels.
Maritime Security

June 2019

DARPA to Use Shrimp, Plankton to Detect Undersea Threats

By Mandy Mayfield
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s biological technology office will begin prototyping sensing capabilities using undersea organisms such as plankton and shrimp to detect threats.
Undersea Warfare

May 2019

JUST IN: Allied Naval Leaders Warn of New Age of Mine Warfare

By Stew Magnuson
Sweden — Potential adversaries have taken note of how effective improvised explosive devices were in Iraq and Afghanistan and may try the same tactics at sea, naval leaders said May 13. “Mines are a type of asymmetric warfare. They are cheap. They are easy to place. They’re a nuisance and they are out there,” Frank DiGiovanni, deputy director of the expeditionary warfare division of the U.S. Navy, said at the Undersea Defense Technology symposium in Stockholm, Sweden. And they are not just a military problem as they can threaten commercial sea traffic and impede free trade, he added.