Think Tank: Sea, air, land and space updates (20-Jun-2017)

Boeing's Echo Voyager UUV (Click Image to Enlarge)

Zoe Glasson, Sophie Qin, Madeleine Nyst and Patrick Kennedy

Sea State

An Iranian ship came within 730m of three US Navy vessels (an amphibious assault ship, a guided-missile destroyer and a dry cargo ship) in the Strait of Hormuz last week. The Iranian vessel shined a spotlight on the destroyer before training a laser on a CH-53E helicopter flying alongside it, prompting the USN to label the incident as an ‘unsafe and unprofessional’ encounter. While this encounter isn’t the first instance of harassment by Iran in this strategic waterway, what was unusual was that the ship involved formed part of the Iranian Navy, rather than the Revolutionary Guards’ Navy which normally carries out acts of that nature.

Last Sunday Iran and China completed a joint naval exercise in the Strait involving 700 Iranian personnel. For an analytical deep-dive into the Strait of Hormuz’s strategic significance and the viability of Iran’s asymmetric warfare, check out a two-part series from the Center for International Maritime Security (here and here).

The USN, Boeing and Huntington Ingalls have joined forces in an underwater endeavour to build the Echo Voyager, a would-be ‘massive unmanned, autonomous submarine’ able to fire missiles, drop mines and stay submerged for months. Boeing is currently testing the drone off the coast of California.

Think Tank: Sea, air, land and space updates (14-Jun-2017)

Zoe Glasson, Sophie Qin, Madeleine Nyst and Patrick Kennedy

Sea State

The full ship’s company is now aboard the Royal Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth. But ongoing delays to the ship’s sea trials have kept it docked in Scotland, exacerbating the dull and boring conditions that have been blamed for a ‘morale crisis’ and the recent resignation of more than 20 sailors. As a result, reports say that sailors aren’t being released to resettlement courses, are having job transfers denied and are working longer hours. The official line, however, denies that morale is low and insists resignation rates are ‘absolutely in line with the fleet average’.

Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba is currently in Tel Aviv meeting with Chief of the General Staff of Israeli Defence Force, Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot. The talks come ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s forthcoming visit to Israel—the first by an Indian prime minister—and are intended to deepen security and defence ties. The leaders are expected to announce a ‘raft of mega deals’, including a contract to supply four Navy ships with long range surface-to-air missiles. For the first time, the contract will be executed with Indian government-owned BEL as part of Modi’s ‘Make in India’ policy.

Think Tank: Sea, air, land and space updates (6-Jun-2017)

Zoe Glasson, Sophie Qin, Madeleine Nyst and Patrick Kennedy

Sea State

DARPA is looking for a way to improve US Navy capability by making it possible for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to communicate underwater. DARPA thinks the answer might be AMEBA (A Mechanically Based Antenna) which could enable wireless communication and data transfer, with antennae  small enough to be installed on UUVs or carried in troops’ packs.

While US Navy UUVs are used for intelligence operations and minesweeping, others have a somewhat different purpose—such as BIKI, the ‘world’s first bionic robot fish’. Though marketed as an underwater camera or monitoring device, BIKI is the real deal, carrying advanced bionics tech of the kind built for artic research.

In an interview with a Chinese State TV channel, a top Chinese naval engineer has revealed that PLAN’s newest nuclear attack submarines (the Type 095 SSN) will be fitted with a ‘revolutionary and silent propulsion system’—a ‘shaftless rim-driven pumpjet’. Analysis of the announcement is just beginning to roll in, but one commentator views the development as ‘an attempt to leap beyond current submarine technology’, which if successful could see the PLAN outpace the US and Britain, whose SSBNs carrying the option for rim-drive pumpjets won’t enter service until 2030.