The unmanned surface vehicle from the Pentagon's "Master of the Phantom Fleet" program made a journey of 4,421 nautical miles (about 8,187.7 kilometers). According to the US Navy, 98 percent of the route it was in autonomous mode, but the captain led it through the Panama Canal.
The US Department of Defense's Office of Strategic Capabilities launched the Master of the Phantom Fleet project in 2017. Its goal is to create medium and large robotic ships that could do without maintenance and interference at sea for a long time. Such platforms could become floating missile depots, autonomously following the fleet.
While in the "Lord of the ghost fleet" two unmanned surface vehicles-Ranger and Nomad. These are modified commercial high-speed supply vessels, which have integrated an autonomous control system. Nomad is still listed in the register under the name Riley Claire. The project is in the second phase of development, which will last until 2022. Then the ships will be handed over to the fleet for further experiments.
Nomad completed the 4,421-nautical-mile (about 8,187.7 kilometers) test run on May 29. It was offline 98 percent of the way from the Gulf of Mexico to the West Coast, but it was guided through the Panama Canal by its captain. The first Ghost Fleet ship made the same journey last year.
The "Master of the ghost fleet" became the basis for the project of a large robotic ship, which we wrote about earlier. It will have a displacement of 900 to 1800 tons and a small living compartment for the technical team.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva