The warship without a crew or a place to put one

DARPA has launched a new prototype warship for the US Navy that not only won’t need any sailors, it can’t even accommodate them. The 180-ft (55-m), 240-tonne No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) put to sea last month ahead of sea trials.

It may look smaller than a conventional surface warship, but looks can be deceiving. Designated USX-1 Defiant, the new NOMARS shows just how much space aboard a ship is devoted to the crew. Take away the living quarters, corridors, ventilators, ladders, access ways, and work spaces, and a warship can be shrunk to a remarkable degree.

In the case of the Defiant, you get a small, dagger-like vessel that can operate at sea for months without human supervision, autonomously navigate, avoid collisions and bad weather, and even refuel – all while properly paying attention to maritime regulations and the rules of the road.

It isn’t the first time DAPRA has gone down this sea lane. Previously the agency developed the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) Sea Hunter, though this was more of a technology development platform to show that a craft could be built for submarine hunting at a tenth of the cost of a conventional anti-sub ship. It also had a pilot house for a human skipper to watch over things during trials.

Though it advances on experience gathered from Sea Hunter, the Defiant was a clean-sheet project built by Serco in Herndon, Virginia. It’s also made for blue-water combat conditions with an ability to handle dangerous sea states with a high degree of stealth and survivability.

Though the missions for ships like this, as well as its armament and technical details, haven’t been released, this will not be some sort of seagoing Terminator blazing away at whatever target strikes its fancy. The function of such autonomous craft is to free up crewed ships for more important tasks while it takes over the routine jobs or acts as a combat force multiplier. Probable missions will include maritime patrols, guard ship and reconnaissance duty, anti-submarine sweeps, arsenal ship deployments, and carrier group escorts.

The Defiant is slated to begin sea trials within a few weeks after it completes its equipment fits.

Source: DARPA