| QUOTE |
| Singapore DTA 2008 Focused on Unmanned Vehicles By wendell minnick Published: 29 May 10:54 EDT (06:54 GMT) Print | Email SINGAPORE - Singapore is considering buying unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), Navy Chief Rear Adm. Chew Men Leong said in the keynote speech at the Defense Technology Asia (DTA) 2008 show, held here May 22-23. The show featured conferences on unmanned vehicles, naval surface, submarine and anti-sub warfare, organizer Samuel Mathews said. Related TopicsAsia & Pacific Rim Naval Warfare Most of the exhibitors were Europe-based, with exhibits from Ital's Selex Sistemi Integrati, France's ECA, Singapore Technologies Electronics - Training & Simulation Systems, France's Eurotorp, Germany's Germanischer Lloyd, France's Sagem Défense Sécurité, Germany's MTU Friedrichshafen, Italy's Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei, U.S. company L-3 Communications Ocean Systems and French shipbuilder DCNS. Marc Heller of U.S. company Lockheed Martin described the littoral uses of his company's remote multimission vehicle (RMMV), a semi-submersible diesel-powered vehicle with a data link to the mother ship and an endurance of 24 to 72 hours. Its above-water sensors can perform coastal and harbor surveillance; electronic warfare; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive detection. Below-water sensor missions include mine warfare, side-scans, synthetic aperture sonar, low-frequency broadband, active and passive anti-submarine warfare, hauling supplies for special operations troops, and environment assessment. The U.S. Navy has three RMMVs, with five more on order. One has completed a deployment aboard the destroyer Bainbridge. An anti-submarine warfare version is being planned. Patrick Vincent of Thales Naval Division and Claudio Ceccarini, head of marketing for Eurotorp, presented papers on the role of unmanned surface vehicles for anti-submarine warfare. Ceccarini talked about unmanned surface vehicles' use in ISR, force protection, mine warfare, precision engagements, anti-terrorism, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare. He said they could detect submarines at a safe distance from the mother ship, then fire lightweight torpedoes at them. Lanfranco Benedetti, of the Italian Ship Model Basin, talked about swarms of 2-meter unmanned surface vehicles equipped with inertial navigation systems, Global Positioning System, gyros and accelerometers. He said a low-power wireless network was under development. ST Electronics promoted its Integrated Mission Debriefing Station, saying it "records and [plays back] all the simulators and instrumental platforms and can be reviewed in 3-D form rather than the traditional 2-D format." Other features include stealth view, adaptive head-up display, event analysis and display control. During DTA, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) announced the company won the Seatrade Asia Award for Technical Innovation for the first 1.5m C-Band stabilized satellite antenna for sea vessels. "This breakthrough caters to the increasing demand for 'always-on' broadband solutions such as e-mail, Internet access, e-Surveillance, GSM coverage and Voice-over-IP calls," said Titus Yong, SingTel's vice president of Satellite. |
| QUOTE (weasel1962 @ Feb 5 2010, 05:49 PM) |
| Starfish, like UAVs, is only a payload carrier. Interesting to see how it can compete with the Meredith AUV developed by DSO. |
| QUOTE |
| International Defence Review -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atlas integrates sonar onto Sea Otter AUV Charles Hollosi Atlas Elektronik UK has integrated its Vision 600 Synthetic Aperture Sonar ( SAS) onto sister company Atlas Maridan's Sea Otter Mk II Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and conducted a proof-of-concept demonstration. The SAS was installed on the AUV within a week in late August and subsequently demonstrated at the Atlas Elektronik UK Bincleaves facility in Portland Harbour, Weymouth, in early September. The Sea Otter Mk II conducted a simulated mine countermeasures mission, including a small survey of a debris field using a 'lawnmower' track pattern, and imaged planted targets such as bicycles and cable reels to a resolution of 2.5 cm. During transit to and from the search area the AUV also performed a Q-route survey, successfully locating a target contact put down while it carried out the site survey. The mission lasted approximately two hours, with launch and recovery of the vehicle carried out from the quayside. The Vision 600 SAS has a range of 100 m to provide a 200 m-wide swath width at 2.5 cm resolution. Image resolution remains constant throughout the range, which Atlas cites as a key advantage of SAS technology over conventional sidescan sonars. Data is stored in a proprietary Removable Data Recording Module containing either a one or 1.5 terrabyte disk, which allows gives sufficient capacity for 12 hours of survey or reconnaissance operations. Sonar imagery can be displayed using Atlas Elektronik UK's Classiphi sonar display tool, which is in use with the UK Royal Navy for post mission analysis, or exported in XTF format for display on a customer's equipment. Jane's has learned that the two Atlas Elektronik subsidiaries are also fitting the Vision 1200 version of the SAS to the Sea Otter Mk II vehicle. This takes advantage of the modular design of the SAS to double the length of the receive array and extend the range of the sensor out to 200 m with a 5 cm resolution of the imagery. It also enables a doubling of the vehicle survey speed to 8 kt compared to the Vision 600 with the same swath coverage as the smaller SAS. The three-day demonstration had an audience of representatives from civilian and military organisations, including the UK Ministry of Defence and the navies of Poland and Singapore. |
| QUOTE (Sayaret @ Oct 6 2010, 07:33 PM) |
| Does this mean less possibility of RSN buying more full scale subs? |