Two more large surface robots will join the Pentagon's "Master of the Ghost Fleet" program next year. According [...] to USNI News, now unmanned vessels are being built. Their tests should begin in 2022.
The project "Lord of the Ghost Fleet" was launched in 2017. Its goal is to create medium and large robotic vessels that would be able to do without maintenance for a long time. In the future, such platforms should become floating missile depots and autonomously follow the fleet.
Now the Pentagon's "Ghost Fleet" includes two surface robots-Ranger and Nomad. These are modified commercial high-speed supply vessels. In May, Nomad completed tests on a route of 4,421 nautical miles( about 8,187. 7 kilometers), 98 percent of which it was in autonomous mode. Last year, Ranger went the same way — from the Gulf of Mexico to the West Coast. Both ships were escorted through the Panama Canal by the captain.
Now it has become known that at the end of 2022, two more large surface robots will join the Master of the Ghost Fleet program. Now they are being built on the Gulf coast. Their tests are also planned for next year. The US Navy does not disclose who is working on the creation of new vessels, but USNI News suggests that Gibbs & Cox is building them. This company created Ranger and Nomad. The second two surface robots are also being developed on the basis of high-speed supply vessels.
The US military used the project "Lord of the Ghost Fleet" as the basis for the development of a large robotic ship. Earlier we wrote that it will be able to replace two classes of ships in the fleet at once — cruisers and destroyers.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva