The Hammerhead USV-T (Unmanned Surface Vehicle Target) is a remote-controlled, high-speed seaborne target drone used for naval training. The craft is built and produced by Meggitt Training Systems in cooperation with A. F. Theriault & Son Ltd and approximately 80 other companies that produce innards and accessories of the boats. [1] The Hammerhead USV-T is used for tactical training scenarios at sea.
In 2010 Meggitt achieved a world first by successful demonstrating to the International Naval Community to be able to control 16 of their Hammerheads for a period of 7 hours. During this time many of the useful applications and equipment designed into the Hammerhead were demonstrated. Since 2010 over 190 units have been sold to Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, United States, and Germany. Meggitt Training Systems has recently been ranked second among Canada’s leading defense companies. [2]
The boat's hull measures 17’ in length and weighs 900 kg. It is equipped with a 3.0L four cylinder engine, capable of propelling it up to 40 knots at sea. The fuel capacity is 189 liters and the boat has an endurance of up to 24 hours at speeds below 20 knots. The Hammerhead can be equipped with smoke, flags, strobe lights, naval navigational lights, flares, and forward looking IR signatures, radar and forward looking video. The equipment is controlled by a UTCS (Universal Target Control System) at a single data half-duplex frequency, allowing them to communicate with up to 16 vehicles concurrently. [3] One person can be capable guiding and controlling 4 Hammerhead boats simultaneously, and the craft can also be pre-programmed.
They are being built and designed to replicate the fast inshore attack crafts typically traveling in swarms that are being utilized in some highly unstable regions of the world. They are cost effective as one does not need to man them and they also do not need many physical attributes boats of its caliber would need to be equipped with in order to function similarly. This specific model is used to test the defenses of a ship or be a target / target tow vehicle.
Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Production of landing craft peaked during World War II, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States.
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted using ship's boats as the primary method of delivering troops to shore. Since the Gallipoli Campaign, specialised watercraft were increasingly designed for landing troops, material and vehicles, including by landing craft and for insertion of commandos, by fast patrol boats, zodiacs and from mini-submersibles.
The Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) is a class of air-cushion vehicle (hovercraft) used as landing craft by the United States Navy's Assault Craft Units and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). They transport weapons systems, equipment, cargo and personnel of the assault elements of the Marine Air/Ground Task Force both from ship to shore and across the beach. It is to be replaced by the Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC).
The Protector unmanned surface vehicle (USV) was developed by the Israeli Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in response to emerging terrorist threats against maritime assets such as the USS Cole bombing, and is the first operational combat USV in service. It is fitted with a Mini Typhoon Weapon Station. In 2005, it was deployed by the Singapore Navy to support coalition forces in the Persian Gulf, and was later deployed for anti-piracy duties in the Gulf of Aden. In 2012, Rafael announced that they were building a larger version of the Protector, that would have a greater range, and be equipped with a wider range of weaponry.
USS Barbour County (LST-1195) was the seventeenth ship of the twenty Newport-class tank landing ships of the United States Navy (USN) which replaced the traditional bow door-design tank landing ships (LSTs). The vessel was named after two counties; one in Alabama, and the other in West Virginia. The LST was constructed by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California. Barbour County was launched in 1971 and commissioned into the USN in 1972. Barbour County took part in the Vietnam War, including the evacuation of Saigon and the Gulf War. The LST also performed disaster relief in Bangladesh. The vessel was decommissioned in 1992 and laid up with plans to sell the ship. This did not happen and the vessel was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 2001 and sunk as a target ship in 2004.
Unmanned Surface Vehicles are boats or ships that operate on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs operate with various levels of autonomy, from simple remote control, to autonomous COLREGs compliant navigation.
The Typhoon is a type of remote weapon station manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Israel, and it shares similar design principles and common technologies with Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station, a land-based system manufactured by the same developer. Like Samson RCWS, Typhoon is also multi-configurable.
USS Racine (LST-1191) was the thirteenth of twenty Newport-class tank landing ships of the United States Navy (USN) which replaced the traditional bow door-design tank landing ships (LSTs). The second ship named after the city in Wisconsin, the ship was constructed by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California. The LST was launched in 1970 and was commissioned in 1971. Racine was assigned to the United States west coast and deployed to the western Pacific Ocean during the Vietnam War. The ship was transferred to the Naval Reserve Force in 1981. The LST was decommissioned in 1993 and placed in reserve. Racine was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 2008 and after an attempted sale to Peru failed, was discarded as a target ship during a sinking exercise in July 2018.
USS Fresno (LST-1182) was the fourth tank landing ship (LST) of the Newport class. Fresno was named for a county in California. The vessel was constructed by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego, California and launched in 1968. The ship entered service in 1969 and was assigned to the United States Pacific Fleet, taking part in training along the west coast and operational cruises to the western Pacific, taking part in the Vietnam War. Fresno was decommissioned in 1993 and laid up. The LST was nearly sold to Peru but remained in the U.S. inventory until 2014, when Fresno was sunk as a target ship in the Pacific Ocean during a training exercise off Guam.
An amphibious warfare ship is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault.
UAPS20 is an autopilot system that can be installed on an RHIB boat to obtain a low-cost unmanned surface vehicle.
The ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) is a DARPA funded project launched in early 2010 to develop an anti-submarine drone. ASW is an acronym for Anti-Submarine Warfare. In January 2018 after successful sea trials it was announced that the "Sea Hunter" prototype has transitioned from DARPA to the Office of Naval Research for further development.
Yard Patrol craft are used by the United States Navy for training and for research purposes. They are designated as YP in the hull classification symbol system. They were nicknamed "Yippy boats" after the "YP" classification symbol.
The Fleet-class unmanned surface vessel, also called the Common Unmanned Surface Vessel (CUSV) and later the Mine Countermeasures Unmanned Surface Vehicle, is an unmanned surface vessel designed for the United States Navy to be deployed from Freedom and Independence-class littoral combat ships and intended to conduct mine and anti-submarine warfare missions. As of 2012 four units of the class have been built; the first was delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2008.
The AeroVironment Switchblade is a miniature loitering munition, designed by AeroVironment and used by several branches of the United States military. Small enough to fit in a backpack, the Switchblade launches from a tube, flies to the target area, and crashes into its target while detonating its explosive warhead. The name switchblade comes from the way the spring-loaded wings are folded up inside a tube and flip out once released.
Seaborne targets are vessels or floating structures that are shot at for practice by naval or air forces. They may be remotely controlled and mobile, or towed behind other craft, or just set adrift in the sea.
The Raytheon Coyote is a small, expendable, unmanned aircraft system built by the Raytheon Company, with the capability of operating in autonomous swarms. It is launched from a sonobuoy canister with the wings deploying in early flight phase.
The JARI USV is an unmanned surface vehicle developed by the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), specifically between its No. 716 Research Institute, the Jiangsu Automation Research Institute (JARI), and No. 702 Research Institute, China Ship Scientific Research Centre (CSRRC). The unmanned warship is designed for potential use for the People's Liberation Army Navy and export customers.
Yuzhou USVs are various USV developed by Chinese Zhuhai Yunzhou Intelligence Science & Technology Corporation (云洲智能科技), most of which have already entered service with Chinese military, paramilitary, police & governmental agencies:
PWT unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV)s are uncrewed vehicles developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC) by PWT in Wuhan, most of which are in service with various Chinese governmental agencies/departments, and government-owned enterprises.