Future U.S. Navy submarines will be able to obtain a better operational picture by launching their own unmanned aerial systems (UASs). A recent test by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, Rhode Island, demonstrated that a submerged vessel can deploy a UAS at sea.rnThe demonstration simulated the submarine launch of a specialized UAS to collect intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data in a littoral environment. During the demonstration, two launch vehicles were deployed over the side of a surface ship. The vehicles descended to 80 feet and then surfaced. Once on the surface, the craft stabilized themselves in variable sea states, aligned into the wind and then launched a dummy UAS.
展开▼