The autonomous "Sea Hunter" anti-submarine unmanned surface vehicle (USV) of the U.S. Navy gets to live up to its name when it begins tests with anti-submarine torpedoes, probably within the year.
Sea Hunter, which is the name of the USV prototype built as part of a program launched in 2010 by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), was originally named the ASW (anti-submarine warfare) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV).
It's a trimaran design that's 40 meters long; weighs 127,000 kilograms and has a top speed of 27 knots or 50 km/h.
Sea Hunter, the world's first robot warship, is capable of patrolling 18,500 km (10,000 nautical miles) of ocean without a human crew. It will, however, be unable to launch its submarine-killing torpedoes without human command.
Sea Hunter will enter fleet service with the U.S. Navy Third Fleet defending the West Coast of the USA. It will enter service in 2018 after two years of exhaustive tests that will validate the faith the US Navy has placed in this DARPA autonomous robot, whose initial job is to detect, track and harass Chinese and Russian attack and ballistic nuclear missile submarines.
Sea Hunter's secondary function right now is to destroy enemy submarines. That capability will be tested within the year and might well become the USV's main purpose once tests are completed.
The anti-submarine torpedo of choice for the navy is the Mark 48, which arms all U.S. Navy submarines. The Mark 48 or Mk-48 is a huge, wire-guided torpedo weighing 1,600 kilograms.
It has the unique ability to circle around and again attack a surface warship it failed to hit on its first try. The torpedo is nicknamed "the keel buster" because its warhead is designed to explode beneath the keel of an enemy ship, thereby breaking its back and sinking it more quickly.
The newest version of the torpedo, the Mk-48 Mod 7 Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS), is optimized for both the deep and littoral waters and has advanced counter-countermeasure capabilities. The Mk-48 is 5.8 meters long and packs a 290 kg high explosive warhead.