Oshen plans to build on its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) experiments at REPMUS 26 with further trials in the U.S. this month and the North Atlantic next year.
In Portugal last month a six-boat C-Star constellation featuring acoustic sensors — omnidirectional hydrophones on a 3m tail — were deployed against live targets for the first time.
The 1.2m C-Star uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) feature onboard sensors measuring environmental data including windspeed, pressure, salinity and temperature.
At REPMUS 26 the six boats were deployed both by hand from rhibs and also off the back of French Navy support ship Seine.
The drones were distributed laterally across a designated area to create an acoustic picket-line tasked with detecting NATO submarines using integrated acoustic sensors from Systems Engineering and Assessment (SEA).
Oshen CEO Anahita Laverack told Navy Leaders: “The most valuable thing is seeing how that information is used in a strategic context… We wanted to see more operationally how the data was used and how it fitted into the bigger picture.
“We know we are going to be part of a bigger picture, not the whole thing.”
She said valuable lessons had been learned, including how to adapt its platforms to cope with local currents which had been quite strong offshore, a different environment to the open ocean conditions the USVs had been deployed in previously.
The experiments at REPMUS built on Oshen’s earlier work as part of the Atlantic Net technology demonstrator programme at the start of the year. The company has also previously fielded a constellation of 13 C-Stars in the U.S. while working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The firm is now set to take eight of its USVs to the next Maritime Big Play exercise in California this month, where the same acoustic picket-line concept will be tested further in Pacific Ocean conditions off San Diego.
Looking further ahead, the firm has plans for a larger trial seeking to deploy 50 of its drone boats in February next year in the North Atlantic in the waters between Iceland and Greenland.
The company is keen to demonstrate its suitability to form part of ASW policing measures in the strategically vital Greenland, Iceland, U.K. (GUIK) gap as the Royal Navy fleshes out its Atlantic Bastion security plans as part of its Hybrid Navy transition.
- You can read more details on the Oshen website
