A 500-ton unmanned ship is much more than small unmanned boats, the use of which has already become commonplace. The task of creating such a ship is very difficult and ambitious. However, its implementation will radically increase our combat capabilities.
Admiral Alexander Moiseev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, said that Russia is building a specialized unmanned ship to combat submarines. "We are creating a ship that solves individual tasks: searching for submarines and other underwater objects. The unmanned ship will have a displacement of 500 tons," the admiral explained. He stressed that the ship will function without a crew on board and will become a base for the development of such systems.
This is a very interesting undertaking. To explain how such a ship can operate, it is worth recalling the organization of anti-submarine warfare in general.
The most effective way to search for submarines by surface forces is to deploy ships at sea with towed sonar stations (GAS), flexible extended towed antennas (GPBA) and low-frequency acoustic radiators. The station emits an acoustic signal with a low frequency and a long wavelength into the water column. According to the laws of nature, such signals propagate over long distances. And most importantly, once on a certain underwater object, they are reflected from it. Returning back to the GPBA, this signal, after a series of actions, will make it possible to determine the location of an underwater object, even a completely silent one.
Another way is to search for a submarine from a drifting ship, which listens to the water column lowered into it by a sonar station. This method does not work at a great distance, but it allows you to work from a ship without exposing it to the operation of the propeller. Sometimes it may be necessary. Several ships with such gas are capable of revealing the underwater situation in waters that are many hundreds of kilometers across. After that, some other forces may be sent to the detected submarine, for example, anti-submarine aircraft. In theory, a network of such unmanned ships of various types is capable of creating vast areas at sea where no NATO submarine can hide.
Like any new project, unmanned anti-submarine ships will have to overcome a lot of difficulties along the way. In other words, for such an innovative project, it is important to identify all the technical risks. First of all, there is the issue of communication. The signals of the ship's control commands and telemetry from its side will need to be transmitted somehow. The Russian satellite constellation that is being tested will probably be able to help if it is able to process such a significant amount of data that sonar requires.
In addition, such a ship will require a filling system – compact gas chambers with GPBA, engines, and other systems. According to the traditional norms of ship construction, it is necessary to create a so-called scientific and technical reserve for these future systems in advance. To carry out scientific research (R&D), the result of which should be the acquisition of the ability to create the systems desired for the ship. Then – to carry out development work (R&D) on the creation of all these systems, to work them out on land stands and test vessels - and only then to create a ship for them. Since such a ship has not been built in Russia before, it will not be possible to make the costs of such a project small.
From an organizational point of view, it is worthwhile to understand which forces will then hit the enemy submarine that the new ships have found. 500 tons is a small displacement in order to accommodate anti–submarine weapons on one ship in addition to detection systems.
Finally, there are tactical issues. In which ship groups will these unmanned ships be used and how? Who will protect them from air attacks and how? In other words, it is not enough to create such a ship, it must be effectively used in the structure of the existing Navy and taking into account its real combat capabilities.
A 500-ton unmanned ship is much more than small unmanned boats, the use of which has already become commonplace. The task of creating such a ship is very difficult and ambitious. However, its implementation will radically increase our combat capabilities. The Russian Navy will have at its disposal many units capable of performing anti-submarine search, uncovering and continuously illuminating the underwater situation over vast areas.
Perhaps within a couple of years we will see at what level this task will eventually be solved.
Alexander Timokhin
journalist
