Ariane MorrisseyThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central R&D organisation of the United States’ Department of Defense, has completed a first test of at-sea refuelling for an unmanned surface vessel (USV) without human intervention from the receiving vessel.
The trial was completed by DARPA’s No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, with the technology set to be implemented on its USV Defiant once the vessel is completed in spring 2025.
The USV Defiant, a 180-feet, 240 metric ton lightship, is intended to operate autonomously for long durations at sea and is designed with no provision, allowance, or expectation for humans on board.
While the NOMARS fuelling at sea (FAS) system is designed for operation without any human on the USV, the refuelling vessel is manned.
The first on-water test was conducted in collaboration with the US Navy PMS-406 (the Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office) and USV Squadron 1 (USVRON-1), using two of the PMS-406 experimental USVs: Ranger and Mariner.
USV Ranger carried a receiving station representative of the system that will be on the NOMARS USV Defiant, and USV Mariner carried a custom-made refuelling ‘mini-station’. While there were personnel aboard both vessels during the test, no people were involved with operations on the receiving side.
The next FAS test will take place during the sea trials of NOMARS USV Defiant, which is nearing completion of construction and is scheduled to depart for sea demonstrations in spring 2025.
Image: DARPA
Ian Taylor
