Arthur McMiler
Serco Inc. will soon start at-sea demonstrations of the unmanned surface vessel it is developing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which was formally christened as USX-1 Defiant Monday.
The USV represents “a new spirit of innovation,” said Tom Watson, Serco Inc. CEO and a two-time Wash100 winner. “The Defiant re-imagines naval architecture, freeing us from the constraints of human habitation to create a ship capable of operating autonomously at sea,” the company’s chief remarked.
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Defiant’s Design Advantages
Serco Inc. is developing the Defiant under DARPA’s No Manning Required Ship, or NOMARS, program. Besides eliminating risk to sailors, the vessel’s unmanned features are designed to provide advantages in size, cost, reliability, hydrodynamic efficiency and survivability.
The NOMARS demonstrator’s hull design has been simplified to enable rapid production and maintenance in traditional port facilities for yachts, tugs and workboats, DARPA said in a separate announcement of the Defiant’s christening ceremony at Everett Ship Repair in Everett, Washington.
Final systems testing is being completed for an extended at-sea demonstration of reliability and endurance of the 180 foot-long, 240-metric-ton lightship, the agency noted.
“Defiant class vessels provide cost-effective, survivable, manufacturable, maintainable, long-range, autonomous and distributed platforms, which will create future naval lethality, sensing and logistics,” said DARPA Director Stephen Winchell.
$2.1B Congress Appropriation for USVs
The Defiant will be handed over to the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office after the completion of the vessel’s at-sea demo. Congress passed a budget reconciliation bill in July with $2.1 billion appropriation “for development, procurement and integration of purpose-built medium unmanned surface vessels.”
Serco Inc. is collaborating with several partners in NOMARS, including Beier Integrated Systems, DRS Naval Power Systems, Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Metron, Submergence Group and Thrustmaster of Texas.
