ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy officials here on Aug. 23 said they are working closely with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on its No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) X-ship program.
“First, we are very much in partnership with DARPA, like we talk to them regularly, on a variety of topics. Great data exchange, and they’ve been really good partners. I myself have personally been to DARPA and briefed on NOMARS and a lot of the other programs that they’re running,” Rear Adm. Casey Moton, the program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, told reporters on Tuesday following a tour of the
Mariner Overlord Unmanned Surface Vessel (OUSV).
DARPA has set NOMARS up as a two-phase program that aims to demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of a USV operating autonomously with zero manning for long missions at sea.
On Aug. 22, DARPA announced it selected Serco Inc. for the second phase, which will have the company finalize ship design, build the prototype, and test it before it goes to sea for a three-month test demonstration (Defense Daily, Aug. 22).
“I’m excited about NOMARS because NOMARAS is doing DARPA hard. They are very quickly [trying to get] all people off for long periods of time and I think we’re very interested in the types of things…what methods they come up with to solve that problem,” Moton added.
Brian Fitzpatrick, the principal assistant program manager for USVs at the Unmanned Maritime Systems program office, PMS 406, noted the Navy has been working with the DARPA NOMARS team for the last several years.
“So this is not a surprise. So we actually share engineering resources…so some of my folks actually work on the NOMARS program,” he said.
Fitzpatrick underscored “doing DARPA hard” means aiming for a harder target, in this case trying to operate the USV for one year without conducting maintenance.
“And it’s not going to sit at a pier for a year. it’s underway. So they’re doing some really interesting things,” he said.
Fitzpatrick noted the Sea Hunter and Seahawk medium unmanned surface vessels the Navy is testing out of Surface Development Squadron One (SURFDEVRON One) in San Diego were the result of DARPA’s Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program.
“And they’re going to go do it again with the NOMARS program…I have a team of engineers that I pay for, that are working on NOMARS, just so we can get that feedback quickly.”
Fitzpatrick also underscored that in comparison to Mariner, which is a backfit/retrofit of a commercial vessel, NOMARS is designing a vessel that will have spaces that are never manned and akin to a satellite.
He said it even includes a nitrogen purge of the engine spaces so there is no oxygen to spark feed a fire.
“So it’s more like building a satellite cheaply vs. building a ship. That’s the approach they’re taking…trying to build a satellite that you can afford and in modules, and that’s really what they’re trying to do on NOMARS.”