Northrop Grumman released details on its new system, the Manta Ray naval drone. (Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman)
By David Pugliese
The war in Ukraine has seen widespread use of the kamikaze naval drone, prompting militaries to raise concerns about the vulnerability of their warships and the defence industry to start pushing such technology to new limits.
Ukraine has used such systems, along with missiles and aerial drones, to destroy a number of Russian ships, prompting the United Kingdom’s then Defence Minister Grant Shapps to describe Russia’s Black Sea fleet as “functionally inactive.”
It is estimated that Ukraine has destroyed or damaged around 24 Russian ships with its naval drones which are essentially a speed-boat sized platform packed with explosives. Sea drones were also used to damage a key bridge from Russia to Crimea that was used for military resupply.
Thousands of kilometres away the drone war in the Red Sea between the U.S. Navy and Houthi rebels is further intensifying. The Houthi are threatening commercial vessels and naval ships sent to protect them with a variety of seaborne and aerial drones as well as missiles. (The Houthi say the attacks are in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.)
In June, US Navy officers described the fighting as the most intense running sea battle the service has faced since the Second World War.
Cmdr. Eric Blomberg with the USS Laboon explained the level of threat and risk during an interview with the Associated Press news service. “I don’t think people really understand just kind of how deadly serious it is what we’re doing and how under threat the ships continue to be,” he said. “We only have to get it wrong once,” he said. “The Houthis just have to get one through.”
At times the attacks have used swarms of drones. On July 1, the U.S. military announced it had destroyed three Houthi naval drones in a 24-hour period.
The defence industry and U.S. government have launched their own maritime robotic platforms. Earlier this year, Northrop Grumman released details on its new system, Manta Ray, which is considered a long-duration, long-range drone demonstration platform.
It was developed to support the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) vision of providing ground-breaking technology to create strategic surprise, according to the company. Northrop Grumman noted that Manta Ray is payload-capable to support a variety of missions; autonomous, without the need for on-site human logistics; and modular, for easy shipment in five standard shipping containers to support expeditionary deployment and in-field assembly world-wide
Most interesting is that the company points out that the system is designed to be energy-saving, with the ability to anchor to the seafloor and hibernate in a low-power state. That sets the stage for an army of drones quietly sitting on the ocean floor ready to surface and strike when needed.
Other nations are also getting into the field. In May, Austal finished the sea acceptance and endurance trials of the Royal Australian Navy’s Sentinel autonomous patrol vessel.
Lessons learned from that will likely be incorporated in Australia’s ambitious new program to eventually put to sea a total of six “optionally-crewed” vessels as part of its future. Fleet. That plan was announced in February 2024.
It is expected that the Australian effort will piggyback on the U.S. Navy’s decision to build a class of what it is calling Large Uncrewed Surface Vessels. Those ships will be equipped with between 16 and 32 vertical launch system cells for missiles. “The [U.S] Navy envisions LUSVs as being 200 feet to 300 feet in length and having full load displacements of 1,000 tons to 2,000 tons, which would make them the size of a corvette,” a December 2023 report produced by the Congressional Research Service noted.
The Royal Canadian Navy has yet to move forward in any significant way in the area. In May 2024 RCN commander Vice Admiral Angus Topshee told the CBC that the RCN is just only now studying the concept of uncrewed naval systems. "We haven't figured out what percentage we want," Topshee said referring to the balance between manned and unmanned vessels.
Topshee said the Australian program holds promise, adding that he believes such vessels are going to be a big part of maritime operations in the future. "I'm looking at that quite closely because I think that it is definitely something that we can build into the Canadian Surface Combatant program. We need to be enabling it, not just with the small autonomous vehicles — on and under the water — but also with larger platforms that could have a crew most of the time."
In a briefing to Canada’s defence industry a month earlier Capt. Drew Graham, director of naval requirements, noted that the “development of concept / implementation plan for persistent maritime domain awareness utilizing UAVs, USVs, and UUVS was underway.”
In the meantime, Bell Textron Canada Limited announced June 20 that the successful first flight of one of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s modernized CH-146 Griffon helicopters had been completed. The helicopter is a variant of the Bell 412EP and the result of the Griffon Limited Life Extension (GLLE) project. Under GLLE, Bell will provide aircraft modifications to a series of the fleet’s aeronautical components, including its avionics systems, cockpit displays, engines, and sensor systems.
The first upgraded CH-146 Griffon completed under the GLLE project is expected to be delivered to the Canadian government in 2026 pending military certification.
In January 2024 the Canadian government announced it had awarded a $2.28-billion contract to Bell Textron Canada Limited to provide in-service support for the RCAF’s active fleet of CH-146 Griffon helicopters.
Under this contract, which began in April 2024, Bell Textron Canada is providing program management, engineering, technical and design change services, component repair and overhaul, procurement of spares and heavy maintenance services. The in-service support work is being done in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
