Drones of the
Depths The Present and Future of Unmanned Undersea Vehicles By Nina Goodwine
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owadays unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are grabbing all the headlines in the defense-drone realm. In early July, for example, Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy completed the first arrested landing of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS). According to Navy UCAS program manager Capt. Jaime Engdahl, the significant feat confirmed that “tailless unmanned aircraft can integrate seamlessly and operate safely from an aircraft carrier at sea.” Two months earlier, the system became the first UAV to be catapulted from a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and pioneered a string of touch-and-go landings and precision approaches. With these and other triumphs under their wings, it would seem that UAVs are the premier choice in robotic defense. But the skies aren’t the only playing field for unmanned vehicles. Whirring beneath the tide is a school of unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) poised for headlines as big as those of their f lying counterparts.
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Unmanned Tech Solutions Fall 2013 | 3