• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Spartan Scout

Small unmanned surface craft will not be practical until their survival in storms and heavy weather is assured. Increasing survivability through strengthening of a small vessel’s structure, or building it to tolerate wave impact and immersion, has been shown to add mass, reduce payload fraction, and decrease maximum speed and range, all of which reduce mission effectiveness. The alternative is to increase survivability through intelligent sensing and control. There are various proposed approaches to implementing a control scheme for vessel survival steering. Among these approaches, some will require a detailed map of the waves and their motion all around the vessel, which has a very high update rate to enable the control system to react to storm phenomena such as heave, breaking waves, confused seas, etc. Such a sensor must be able to tolerate the marine environment, provide all-weather data in useful form to a control system, and be small and light enough to be carried by small craft. A successful sensor and control system will enable inexpensive commercial fiberglass craft to be fitted out for a variety of military missions in the littoral.

The Spartan Scout is a 7-11 meter Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat that can operate by remote control as a modular, reconfigurable, multi-mission, high-speed, semi-autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USV) capable of carrying payloads of 3,000 pounds (7-meter) or 5,000 pounds (11-meter).

The Spartan Scout, a Department of Defense (DoD) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) in 2003, was under the direction of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport. Integrated as an expeditionary sensor and weapons system designed to be a primary "force-leveler" against asymmetric threats, it enables a battle force commander to match inexpensive threats with an appropriate response.

The Spartan Scout ACTD was aimed at addressing joint warfighting needs in the increasingly complex and contested littoral areas of the world. In the ACTD, Spartan is specifically focused on demonstrating the military utility of modular, multimission USVs as extended sensor and weapons platforms conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)/ target acquisition; precision strike; and shallow-water undersea warfare missions in support of joint task force, battle group, amphibious and sealift operations.

In May 2005 Singapore unveiled a fleet of two-ton Spartan Scout Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV), which Defense Minister Teo Chee Hean said would give the city-state a high-tech boost in the battle against maritime piracy and terrorism. “The USVs allow ships to deploy such a vessel without getting the men into too close contact with a suspicious boat, which may have undesirable intentions,” Teo told reporters after the demonstration.

As autonomy and unmanned systems grow in importance for naval operations, officials at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced 05 October 2014 a technological breakthrough that will allow any unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to not only protect Navy ships, but also, for the first time, autonomously “swarm” offensively on hostile vessels. The first-of-its-kind technology—successfully demonstrated over two weeks in August on the James River in Virginia—allows unmanned Navy vessels to overwhelm an adversary. Its sensors and software enable swarming capability, giving naval warfighters a decisive edge.

“This networking unmanned platforms demonstration was a cost-effective way to integrate many small, cheap, and autonomous capabilities that can significantly improve our warfighting advantage,” said Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations. The technology—called CARACaS (Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing)—is under development by ONR, and can be put into a transportable kit and installed on almost any boat.

It allows boats to operate autonomously, without a Sailor physically needing to be at the controls—including operating in sync with other unmanned vessels; choosing their own routes; swarming to interdict enemy vessels; and escorting/protecting naval assets. “Our Sailors and Marines can’t fight tomorrow’s battles using yesterday’s technology,” said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder. “This kind of breakthrough is the result of the Navy’s long-term support for innovative research in science and technology.” In the demonstrations, as many as 13 Navy boats operated using either autonomous or remote control. First they escorted a high-value Navy ship, and then, when a simulated enemy vessel was detected, the boats sped into action, swarming around the threat. (See CARACaS swarming boat video.)

In the future, the capability could scale to include even greater numbers of USVs and even to other platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). “This multiplies combat power by allowing CARACaS-enabled boats to do some of the dangerous work,” said Dr. Robert Brizzolara, program manager at ONR. “It will remove our Sailors and Marines from many dangerous situations—for instance when they need to approach hostile or suspicious vessels. If an adversary were to fire on the USVs, no humans would be at risk.” The new technology will allow the USVs to detect, deter or destroy attacking adversaries. Any weapons fire from the USVs would need to be initiated by a Sailor supervising the mission. Naval leadership has emphasized a blended force of manned and unmanned systems in recent years. Not only can USVs take on dangerous missions, thus protecting the warfighter, but even multiple USVs are a fraction of the cost of a single large manned ship.

The swarm demo announcement came near the somber anniversary of the terrorist attack on USS Cole (DDG-67) off the coast of Yemen. In that October 2000 attack, a small boat laden with explosives was able to get near a guided-missile destroyer and detonate, killing 17 Sailors and injuring 39 others. Autonomous swarmboat capabilities could play a vital role in protecting people, ports and commerce. “While the attack on Cole was not the only motivation for developing autonomous swarm capability, it certainly is front and center in our minds, and hearts,” said Klunder. “If Cole had been supported by autonomous USVs, they could have stopped that attack long before it got close to our brave men and women on board.”