Ocean intelligence company Saildrone just put the first of a new generation of autonomous Surveyor vessels on the water: an aluminum version that the Navy wants to exploit. But don’t worry – they don’t put guns on them.
Founder and CEO Richard Jenkins told TechCrunch that demand for ships like Saildrone’s is only growing.
“We expect the need for ocean observation to continue to grow in size, complexity and quality. Aerial, surface and subsurface technologies play a role in ocean observations,” he said.
The 20m SD-3000 is similar to previous versions of the Surveyor currently traveling in the ocean collecting data, but this one has an aluminum hull while the others are a fiberglass/carbon composite. The wing (or sail, but sails are cloth) is still composite, however.
“Aluminum was chosen for the hull and keel for its robustness, longevity in the ocean environment, cost and ability to be rapidly mass produced at very large factories like Austal,” said Jenkins. “We don’t have the same scale of complex manufacturing facilities in the US”
Image Credits: Saildrone
We recently saw startup Syrenna and nonprofit Cerulean demonstrate the value of semi-static and satellite observations, respectively.
“USVs provide high-resolution data simultaneously both above and below the sea surface. This data has a much higher spatial and temporal resolution than can be obtained from satellites, and the extreme range and endurance allow persistent measurements well beyond the range of AUVs,” explained Jenkins — the sonar on the boat can hit 11,000 meters, which should be enough. “We see Saildrone as an integral part of the ecosystem not only for data collection, but for providing high-bandwidth satellite communications and even physical delivery for other systems.”
Improved marine information is an enabler in climate science, international logistics, law enforcement, and of course military matters. The Navy is a special customer for this brand new vessel. Adm. Lisa Franchetti noted that unmanned vehicles simply allow crews to go where they need to instead of performing tasks that can be automated, such as persistent observation.
However, so far, no one has suggested arming the Saildrone vessels. This is probably a non-starter – weapon platforms have to be designed from the ground up for combat, and Surveyors (the hint is in the name) are probably more focused on intelligence gathering.
The Austal line is expected to be able to turn out a Surveyor every six weeks to begin with. The SD-3000 and some of its aluminum relatives under development will be detailed in Navy tests of its ability to produce “surface and undersea intelligence for a range of high-priority applications, including anti-submarine warfare.”
