Unmanned subs making waves in undersea warfare

Seth Robson - 

Unmanned aircraft have been playing a major role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for years. Now, the U.S. military is beginning to field unmanned submarines.

In a move that could dramatically cut the cost of undersea warfare, NATO is testing three Autonomous Undersea Vehicles, or AUVs, in the Mediterranean Sea this month as part of the alliance’s largest annual anti-submarine warfare exercise.

The AUVs, dubbed “gliders,” have much in common with their flying cousins, including wings, according to Michel Rixen, a scientist at the NATO Undersea Research Center in Italy.

“They are very similar vehicles although the dynamics are changed a little,” Rixen said. “What is peculiar to the AUVs are buoyancy controls.”

The battery-powered gliders, which are about 6 feet long and weigh up to 130 pounds, can be launched from shore or from a small rubber boat. They move through the sea at less than 2 mph, using a pump that inflates and deflates an internal bladder to change the vehicle’s buoyancy in the same way a scuba diver might inflate a buoyancy jacket, he said.

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NATO Undersea Research Center

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