USA: Landing ships and big drones

USS Fort Lauderdale

In mid-March 2022, the Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Shipbuilding Division in Pascagoula, Mississippi, opened the USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28), the twelfth of the San Antonio-class amphibious dock landing transports, has been delivered to the US Navy. After some further proof, Fort Lauderdale will be able to embark their contingent of Marines, their conventional and hovercraft landing craft, as well as the helicopters and the swing-rotor aircraft.

LDUUV Snakehead

Against the backdrop of the number thirteen of this class at the equipment pier in Pascagoula, the USS Richard S. McCoolThe technical solution developed and tested at HII to optimise the LDUUV (large-diameter unmanned underwater vehicle) can be deployed and retrieved from the landing ship. Key players in the team were the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) and the Programme Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO USC), which were responsible for the LDUUV named Snakehead are responsible. Snakehead, which was named in February at the Narragansett Bay Test Facility in Newport, Rhode Island, is a somewhat large (approximately 8 x 2 metres), modularly-configurable, multi-purpose underwater drone that can be deployed from a submerged submarine or floated from a dock landing ship. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems developed and supplied a "fault-tolerant" lithium-ion battery (LiFT), which is used for reliable propulsion and system supply.

LDUUV Snakehead Graphic: navsea.navy.mil

Turbulence

The US Navy's UUV development programme has already swallowed up several hundred million dollars and is being watched very suspiciously by the budget holders. Snakehead, as a mid-range UUV, has run into technical turbulence and will probably not receive any further funding in this financial plan for the final development of the tactically usable device. This should add up to half a billion dollars over the next few years, which every decision-maker would like to see invested elsewhere. A setback for sure, but not the end of the big eels! The naval programme also includes a long series of other UUVs, from the new large ORCAthe Extra Large UUV (approx. 15 x 4 metres) over the central Knifefish until Lionfish Small UUV.

Source: Globalsecurity.org, defensesystems.com, defencepost.com, navalnews.com, breakingdefense.com, huntingtoningalls.com