The US Navy has completed initial operational tests of the UISS unmanned mine defense system, which consists of a surface robot and equipment for searching and destroying mines. They took place off the coast of California on board the coastal warship "Manchester".
Usually, boats and ships, which are called minesweepers, are engaged in the search and neutralization of sea mines. They are equipped with ammunition detection systems and equipment for detonating them. Working on minesweepers is dangerous for life and health.
Therefore, the US military wants to entrust the search for mines to robots and is developing several mine protection systems for its coastal warships. In addition to the UISS, these include the Knifefish underwater anti-mine robot [...] and the MCM USV robocater with AN/AQS-20C towed anti-mine sonar .
The UISS system also assumes the use of MCM USV . This robot is based on the autonomous boat CUSV of the American company Textron. It works up to 20 hours, and its range over the radio channel is 140 kilometers. But instead of sonar in the UISS system, the robot received equipment for searching for magnetic, acoustic and combined mines, including generators of a magnetic field and acoustic vibrations.
The US Navy announced the completion of the initial operational tests of the UISS on August 23. They took place on board the coastal warship "Manchester" off the coast of California in May and June. The minesweeper robot has shown itself in mine search and disposal missions and demonstrated integration with the ship. It is expected that UISS will reach initial operational readiness at the end of September.
Not only the US military is interested in unmanned systems for searching for mines. Earlier we wrote about the robot minesweeper, which was adopted by the Royal Navy of Great Britain. Like the MCM USV, it is also created on the basis of a boat.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva