As a new type of underwater offensive and defensive weapons and equipment in the future, the submarine preset weapons are pre-placed in sensitive sea areas such as continental shelves and island chains in advance and lurk for a long time, and the reconnaissance, strike and area rejection tasks are performed after remote activation. The main U.S. submarine preset weapons are the "Hydra" project, the "payload" project, the distributed agile anti-submarine system, and the deep-sea navigation and positioning system.
Hydra project
Released in 2013 by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Hydra system is an unattended, long-term underwater combat platform family that includes intelligence surveillance reconnaissance, fire strike, underwater/aerial unmanned vehicle carrier mothership, and special forces equipment support.
The Hydra system can lurk for months in a sea area with a water depth of 300 meters, passively receiving command, control and intelligence information to complete specific tasks. Hydra's unmanned systems can be used to alternate between on-water, surface and underwater capability delivery with manned ships, submarines and aircraft. The system can be delivered to offshore areas by naval vessels, submarines or aircraft, and if successfully developed, it may become a force multiplier, enabling faster, scalable and more economical military deployments.
The key to the Hydra project is the development of modular payloads that provide important capabilities such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), mine resistance, and more. These payload modules use standardized packaging to ensure the safety of various payloads in transit, storage and launch, while ensuring that the functions of these payloads can last for weeks or even months. Hydra systems value scalability, rapid reconfiguration capabilities, and maximum payload. Naval forces can transport the Hydra system to coastal waters (shallow international waters close to the coastline) by ship, submarine or aircraft.
Hydra system
The first phase of the Hydra project focused on the overall concept design; In September 2016, the project entered the second phase, focusing on the development and validation of load and modular package interfaces. In April 2017, DARPA awarded Boeing a $7.6 million revised contract to continue supporting the second phase of the Hydro project, the completion of which has not been disclosed.
Advantages of the Hydra project:
Enables tasks that incorporate activity at the surface, at sea and under the sea to proceed seamlessly
The ability to remotely control beyond the visual range greatly increases the operating range
Enable other new features that cannot currently be performed from manned platforms, such as airborne ISRs for frontier deployment with expendable platforms, or charging centers for submarine vehicles with ISR capabilities
The ability to accommodate more payloads in the future
Payload (UFP) project
Launched by DARPA in 2013, the "Payload" (UFP) project aims to develop an underwater combat platform that can travel for 5 years or more on the seabed at depths greater than 6 km, activate and rapidly rise outside the defense zone, and be equipped with payloads and weapons. The basic idea is to seek a non-lethal weapon or battlefield-aware sensor design that can be placed on the seabed, a system that can not only launch payloads, but also project communication systems onto the surface. The system can remotely trigger the release mechanism, and the load system and the fixing system will automatically float to the surface after unlocking. When the load reaches the surface, the top launch chamber opens to release the load launcher.
UFP is deployed through aircraft, ships and other platforms, can lurk in the deep sea for several years, once needed, can be activated by remote activation link to achieve wake-up, the built-in payload quickly raised to the surface of the water after launch, performing tasks such as situational awareness. The UFP consists of 3 key subsystems: built-in underwater/air load, pressure-resistant floating sealed chamber, and remote activation link.
Payload (UFP) system
In the first phase, DARPA funded more than a dozen studies and designs to identify methods for remote communications, deep-sea high-voltage vessels, and payload release. The research teams also proposed a series of tasks for the payload. After testing the concept of the system, on March 25, 2014, DARPA tendered for the last two phases of the UFP project, which then began to move on to the second phase: prototype development. In the second phase, DARPA in particular wants to have professional and innovative solutions in the areas of small sensors, consumables and small unmanned systems, distributed communication and navigation technology, remote underwater communication technology, and durable mechanical and electrical system technology that can survive in hibernation for several years.
According to the UFP project plan, the initial test of the system-related technology will be carried out in 2015 and 2016, and a comprehensive test will be carried out in 2017. In 2016, the UFP project entered its third phase, beginning demonstration validation experiments in an underwater environment. At present, the progress of the project has not been disclosed.
DARPA said: "Nearly 50% of the world's oceans are more than 4 kilometers deep, which provides a vast area for concealment and storage of weapons. Therefore, the cost of retrieving UFP nodes is asymmetrical with the possible costs of production and distribution to the seabed. The concealment offered by the ocean also provides the opportunity for rapid contact with long-range engagements that can be dormant for long periods of time and undetected, while the vastness of the ocean allows simultaneous action at great distances. Approaching targets without warning and building distributed systems without delay is a key attribute of UFP capabilities. ”
Distributed Agile Anti-Submarine System (DASH)
The Distributed Agile Anti-Submarine System (DASH) consists of two subsystems, deep and shallow. The two sets of subsystems complement each other in detection methods and detection areas to improve the efficiency of reconnaissance and detection. It aims to use unmanned platforms equipped with detection sensors to replace manned platforms to complete the detection and tracking tasks of enemy submarines.
Picture Distributed Agile Anti-Submarine System Composition Structure Diagram
The shallow sea subsystem mainly adopts non-acoustic detection means, and the unmanned aerial vehicle carries non-acoustic sensors to monitor the shallow sea from top to bottom; The deep-sea subsystem consists of a "Reliable Acoustic Path Subsystem" (TRAPS) and a "Submarine Risk Control Subsystem" (SHARK), TRAPS is a stationary passive sonar detection system, and the SHARK subsystem uses unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) to carry detection sonar for wide-area diving.
Shark is a UUV with integrated active sonar detection system, an important part of the DASH project, using a container-type mechanism layout, can place multiple UUV (based on bluefin-21UUV modification) inside, with a water depth of 6000 meters working capacity.
Operational schematic diagram of distributed agile anti-submarine system
Deep Sea Navigation and Positioning System (POSYDON)
DarPA invested in the development of the "deep sea positioning and navigation system" (POSYDON) is a GPS-like constellation of passive navigation and positioning system, can comprehensively use underwater acoustic signals, surface buoys, underwater beacons or nodes, GPS signals, can quickly determine the position coordinates of unmanned systems for underwater missions, and transmit data back to the command and control system of surface ships or submarines. Consists of a large number of underwater acoustic sensors fixed on the seabed. In May 2016, DARPA awarded BAE Systems the UK with an initial design contract for the first phase of the project for prototyping system development and technical demonstration verification.
Operational schematic diagram of the deep-sea navigation and positioning system
DarPA's developers said: "The deep-sea positioning and navigation system can provide real-time, continuous and stable positioning information in the ocean. By deploying a small number of sound source systems that can be transmitted over long distances, the underwater platform no longer needs to regularly float up to receive GPS signals to obtain continuous, high-precision navigation information." It can be seen that the "deep-sea positioning and navigation system" will increase the safety of the underwater platform and reduce the probability of exposing itself.
brief summary
Submarine preset weapons can greatly enhance the ABILITY of the US military to deliver global strategically. Although U.S. military bases are already spread around the world, it is clear that a limited number of submarines cannot demonstrate the control of the U.S. military for 70% of the earth's total oceans, especially below the surface. Relying on the preset weapons on the seabed can make the strategic deployment of the US military more three-dimensional and greatly expand the space for the use of strategic forces. With the expansion of the future underwater battlefield to the deep sea, the submarine preset weapon, as a new type of weaponry, as the main form of underwater unmanned equipment expanding to the direction of the deep sea, is expected to become the main weaponry of the future marine three-dimensional space station.
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Transferred from 丨 Sun Valley High-end Equipment Industry Research Center
Editor 丨 Zheng Shi Deng Tingting
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