Lockheed Martin recently launched a small drone from an autonomous underwater vehicle with an assist from an unmanned surface vehicle, which company officials said marked a milestone in robotic cooperation.
The demonstration, announced today, occurred in August at the Annual Navy Technology Exercise Activities. In it, a small Vector Hawk UAS launched from a Marlin MK2 underwater vehicle.
A third unmanned system, the Submaran USV developed by Ocean Aero, helped with the launch of the Vector Hawk and also supplied surface reconnaissance and surveillance in combination with the other two systems.
The Submaran USV transmitted instructions to the Marlin AUV from a ground control station through underwater acoustic communications. After this, the Marlin was able to launch the Vector Hawk from the surface of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay using a specially designed canister. Once in the air, the Hawk went on its planned flight path, and all three unmanned systems communicated with the ground control station without errors.
“This effort marks a milestone in showing that an unmanned aircraft, surface vessel and undersea vehicle can communicate and complete a mission cooperatively and completely autonomously,”
said Kevin Schlosser, chief architect of unmanned systems technology at Lockheed Martin.
Frank Drennan, director of mission and unmanned systems business development, added, “Lockheed Martin has heard loud and clear the U.S. Navy's call to get faster, be more agile, and to be continually creative. We have clearly illustrated that we have the necessary agility and quickness combined with innovative technology to increase the range, reach, and effectiveness of undersea forces.”
The four-pound Vector Hawk can launch and operate in any kind of weather, has a flight time of more than 70 minutes and can launch and land fully autonomously. The 10-foot-long Marlin MK2 is fully autonomous, with a 250-pound payload capacity, and can operate at a depth of 1,000 feet on an 18-24-hour battery life.
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