Solution for Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Interfaces

As the Navy proceeds to update our shipboard assets through the fielding of new and innovative ship designs, the need for a modular, adaptable, multi-purpose warship becomes apparent. The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program is intended to field a multi-purpose, mission-adaptable combat ship for littoral near-coastal warfare, and to yield a platform ship capable of sustaining unmanned, automated systems in the littoral environment. Though numerous autonomous vehicles and small manned surface vessels are currently in use or planned for near-term use by the Navy, there is a distinct lack of any standardized interface that can capture and launch all types of vehicles from a common system. To meet the growing need for a single adaptable common interface, Michigan Aerospace Corporation and the University of Michigan Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering have developed a conceptual approach to a modular adaptable launch and recovery system that will meet the Navy’s needs for Offboard Organic Vehicle (OOV) handling. This Phase II effort proposes to develop this technology into a functioning system suitable for capturing and deploying a wide range of OOVs from a combat ship platform.