20 17123 October, a comprehensive geological survey was conducted in the coastal zone of sanya bay, Hainan. (Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang She)
The website of the US Naval Academy recently reported that the US Naval Maritime Systems Command has reached an agreement with the American industrial giant Teflon to install an anti-ship weapon system for the universal unmanned surface craft to strengthen its maritime combat capability. Previously, this surface boat was mainly used for reconnaissance and mine clearance.
Teflon said in the announcement that the anti-ship weapon system to be equipped includes a variety of missiles, target indicators, sensors and remote-controlled weapon stations, but the announcement did not specify the weapon model. The universal unmanned surface boat was originally a minesweeper, which eliminated the sonic explosion or electromagnetic detonation of mines by transmitting signals.
As a new type of combat weapon, unmanned boat has many incomparable advantages over traditional ships. Among them, the biggest advantage is that it does not require personnel to work, saving personnel wages and sea subsidies, especially reducing casualties.
In addition, the unmanned boat is small and flexible, with good stealth and strong battlefield survivability. Unmanned boats are usually tens of meters long, with a displacement of tens of tons and a speed of 50 to 60 knots. In addition, unmanned boats generally adopt composite materials and stealth design, which is very concealed. When fighting at sea, the probability of being attacked and damaged is very low, and you can get away with it after completing various tasks such as reconnaissance and sneak attack.
It is worth mentioning that the unmanned boat used for cruising mission is not only low in cost, but also can go deep into dangerous areas, and there is no problem of personnel fatigue caused by long-term and large-scale cruising.
In the future, unmanned boats will play a greater role in safeguarding maritime rights and responding to hot issues in the ocean. Analysts pointed out that the US military may deploy unmanned boats in the Persian Gulf and other sea areas with high geo-risks, instead of the existing "cyclone" class patrol boats, to carry out reconnaissance and patrol tasks.
With the development and wide application of unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned intelligent weapons have attracted more and more attention from all countries in the world. Nowadays, the world's military powers have turned their attention to unmanned combat ships at sea, and the development of unmanned ship technology has advanced by leaps and bounds.
In addition to the United States, Israel, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and many other countries have developed military unmanned surface ships. Among them, Israel first launched the development of modern intelligent unmanned ship, and its "protector" unmanned surface boat was widely used in the waters near Lebanon to monitor the activities and investigation and deployment of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The surface unmanned boat "Protector" adopts a 9-meter-long rigid inflatable hull, equipped with maritime navigation radar, panoramic camera, sensors and target sensors, and a fixed remote-controlled weapon station. It can be equipped with small-caliber guns with various ranges, which can meet the task requirements of maritime anti-terrorism, military alert, maritime security and port security. In 20 16, Israel also launched the world's first unmanned surface boat "Seagull" capable of carrying out anti-submarine warfare missions.
At the end of 20 17, the new unmanned boat "Tianxing-1" jointly developed by China Harbin Engineering University and Shenzhen Heisby Boat Company was unveiled at the China Marine Economic Expo in Zhanjiang, Guangdong. The boat uses hybrid electric power, with a total length of 12.2 meters, a full load displacement of 7.5 tons, and a maximum speed of over 92.6 km/h (50 knots). The insiders believe that this also shows that China is at the forefront of the world in the research and development of unmanned boats.