It was only a matter of time before somebody thought of this. On Oct. 10 a small quad-rotor delivery drone, of the type used for delivering packages to your door, resupplied a U.S. Navy submarine.
A small quad-rotor UAV rendezvous with USS Hawaii (SSN 776) off Hawaii in a groundbreaking ... [+]
The honor fell to the suitably named USS Hawaii (SSN 776), one of the latest Virginia Class fast attack submarines. It took place just a mile off Oahu, Hawaii, in partnership with the University of Hawaii Applied Research Lab. This may not sound very impressive, but it is a look into the future.
Submarines crave the protection of the deep, hiding out of sight. For modern nuclear powered submarines there are very few good reasons to surface at all during a patrol. To come to the surface risks detection by enemy radars, negating their fundamental advantage: stealth. It's not uncommon for nuclear submarines to spend several months without breaking cover. Yet there are occasions when submarines need to recover supplies. They may need medical supplies, replacement parts, provisions or even snail mail. In this thought-provoking exercise the U.S. Navy has demonstrated a new way to do this. For the test the 5 pound payload consisted of circuit cards, medical supplies, and food.
Small Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) may have some advantages over helicopters for this type of mission. Naturally they are much cheaper, even with military grade communications aboard. But there are other less obvious advantages. Launching several inexpensive single-mission UAVs frees up the more versatile helicopters to conduct more complex missions. And if you lose a small UAV, that can be bad news operationally, but it won't make headlines. And you won't use up valuable resources conducting search and rescue for the crew. In short, UAVs make good sense for some missions.
So why is it taking so long to see this development? Delivery drone technology is being driven, largely, by civilian applications. This has the benefit of keeping cost down and shortening the development cycle. But it also means that they have modest range and limited payload. Range is probably the more critical aspect, as much of the world's oceans are beyond reach of land-based civilian UAVs. For a Navy, they could be carried by warships to reach further. But incremental improvements in range and autonomy, plus military grade communications, should close this gap.
At the moment drone resupply still involves the submarine exposing itself to radar. But possibly someone is already thinking up ways to do this operation more discretely.
Some UAV manufactures have developed inexpensive drones which go the opposite way; being launched by a submarine for reconnaissance. So the mixing of UAVs and submarines will only increase going forward.
