Since the beginning of the decade, Naval Group has accustomed us to discovering, in October of each year, new major advances in terms of naval innovations. This year will be no exception to the rule, with a new range of services and equipment, entirely focused on the implementation of unmanned vessels by military navies, which will be presented at the Euronaval 2024 exhibition.
Composed of four product families, ranging from the large autonomous vessel to the control module itself, it covers all the needs to operate these new systems efficiently, in many use cases, making Naval Group a European pioneer in this very promising field.
In this section:
The race for unmanned ships is on for major navies
Of the four major areas of application of drone technology (aerial, land, space and naval), naval is the one that appeared the latest. It was necessary, in fact, to reach a DARPA program in 2012, the ACTUV program, which would materialize with the construction of the SeaHunter, for the subject to really take off, and begin to interest the major world navies which, until then, were more than reserved about its application, beyond small autonomous underwater reconnaissance systems, often for single use.
It is true that many unknowns and questions applied to this specific area, particularly with regard to the treatment of damage and misfortunes at sea, which nevertheless focuses a significant part of the action at sea of a ship's crew, military or civilian.
However, over the course of the tests, the SeaHunter, then the Sea Hawk, demonstrated real capabilities, including during major US Navy exercises. In addition, smaller ships, specialized in the defense of coastal infrastructures, began to be developed by certain countries that had acquired significant know-how in the field of aerial drones, such as Turkey and China.
However, it was growing tensions between the United States and China, particularly over Taiwan, that propelled this new technology to the forefront of the US Navy's priorities.
Noting the very rapid progression of the Chinese Navy's high seas fleet, relying on industrial resources considerably greater than those available in the United States, and faced with the HR difficulties that all Western armies are facing, the US Navy developed, from 2020, a plan to develop a vast fleet of autonomous ships, more than 150, to support its own frigates and destroyers, and thus compete on an equal footing with the PLA.
Shortly after, the successes recorded by Ukrainian surface drones against the powerful Russian Black Sea Fleet finally convinced the general staff of the potential of this approach.
Naval Group presents a complete range for implementing unmanned ships and submarines
In addition to the United States, China and Turkey, already mentioned, several countries have also committed to developing capabilities in this area. This is particularly the case for Great Britain, South Korea and Japan.
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The light drones presented here could be useful, I think, to the coastal fleets of the reserve currently being created.
Not really. Coastal flotillas are primarily defensive units. Attack drones are purely offensive. Their GPS guidance only allows them to strike predefined and fixed targets. There is therefore no use case on board coastal vessels intended to operate in territorial waters. Lurking munitions, on the other hand, are much more interesting, because they are directly controlled with video feedback, which allows them to target moving targets. Moreover, it seems to me that discussions are underway on this subject concerning the two lurking munitions programs currently under development.