Unmanned Systems Technology 013 | AutonomouStuff Lincoln MKZ | AI systems | Unmanned Underwater Vehicles | Cosworth AG2 UAV twin | AceCore Neo | Maintenance | IDEX 2017 Show report

44 T he UUV market is predicted by research company Markets and Markets to be worth US$4 billion by 2020, and the range of potential missions for them will continue to be very wide. Recent developments in the sector, however, mean the principal missions have coalesced into those in which threats are looming large in naval planners’ minds, where rewards seem close or the science appears urgent. These include mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, inspection and identification, oceanography, seabed mining and fish farming. There are many new vehicles being developed to take on multiple roles, which makes it difficult to assign specific application sets to them, but one general theme that is emerging is for multi- vehicle cooperation that combines remote operation with autonomy and greater depth capability. Mine countermeasures The US Navy declared itself pleased with the Knifefish mine-hunting UUV being developed by General Dynamics Mission Systems following a set of tests conducted in Narranganset Bay, off the north-east coast of the US, in January 2017. Captain John Rucker, the programme manager for unmanned maritime systems in the Littoral Combat Ship programme, reported that the Bluefin 21-based Knifefish used its low- frequency broadband (LFBB) synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) to detect eight stealthy mine targets placed around a test range. The LFBB sonar is designed to increase the area coverage rate compared with operational mine UUV developers are steering towards craft that can carry out different roles cooperatively, reports Peter Donaldson On the sea front April/May 2017 | Unmanned Systems Technology