Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) At-sea Fueling

The first objective is to design a system for this initial fueling immediately following launch, with apparatus that can be connected prior to launch. The second objective is to significantly reduce the time to refuel a USV between mission sorties by refueling it from the LCS without bring it aboard the LCS. The third and final objective is to move the fuel source offboard from the LCS to another craft, such as a dedicated “fuel tanker” USV. With this system, the fuel can be taken to the mission area to refuel the USV during its mission. This saves the lost mission time of returning to the LCS for refueling. In addition, reducing the dependency on the LCS will free the LCS to execute other tasks that may be a considerable distance from the USV’s mission area. Each of the three systems developed to meet the specified objectives will work as a standalone solution; together, they will be capable of fueling USVs in all of the specified scenarios.