Entering the 2 1 century, unmanned surface craft has also ushered in the opportunity of rapid development. With the progress of artificial intelligence, information, network, communication, navigation and other technologies, the technology of unmanned surface craft is becoming more and more mature, and countries have accelerated the research and development of unmanned surface craft, and unmanned surface craft with various uses have been put into use one after another.

In 2007, the US Navy issued the Master Plan of Naval Unmanned Surface Boat, which divided the unmanned surface boat into four levels according to the technical indicators such as length, speed and endurance, and defined seven tasks of the unmanned surface boat. In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense issues a comprehensive roadmap for unmanned systems every two years to guide the development of unmanned combat systems in the United States.

An "X" class unmanned boat with a length of about 3 meters or less can support special forces operations, maritime interception and other tasks. The "harbor" class is mainly developed on the basis of the navy's standard 7-meter rigid inflatable boat. Medium endurance, mainly performing maritime security tasks, strong intelligence monitoring and reconnaissance capabilities, equipped with lethal and non-lethal weapons, and can be deployed by surface ships.

A 7-meter semi-submersible surface boat with a "snorkel", only the snorkel is exposed to the water when sailing and offshore operations, and the rest of the hull is underwater. It can work in level 7 sea conditions, mainly performing anti-mine and anti-submarine missions.

The "Fleet" class unmanned surface boat is about 1 1 m long, and it is a planing or semi-planing surface boat. When towing the minesweeper, the speed is 20-24 knots, when not towing, the speed is 32-35 knots, and the standard endurance time is 48 hours. Mainly used in anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare or electronic warfare and other tasks; It also supports manned driving.

In terms of operational use, the US Navy mainly develops seven capabilities, namely, anti-mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare, maritime security, surface warfare, support for special operations, electronic warfare and support for maritime interception operations. According to different mission requirements, the boat type and load capacity are different.

How to develop unmanned boats in the future?

First, strengthen the interoperability between unmanned systems: in order to improve the overall combat capability, the interconnection between the three types of unmanned systems and the coordination between combat systems will be further strengthened in the future. At present, the collaboration ability between similar platforms has basically taken shape, and cross-category collaboration is still being tested.

Second, enhance the autonomous control ability of unmanned boats: Based on artificial intelligence technology, unmanned boats gradually form the ability of autonomous decision-making, autonomous control, autonomous task planning and task assignment through machine learning. Future unmanned boats will also have the ability to control weapons autonomously.

Third, bring unmanned boats into the combat network: like other weapon systems, a single unmanned combat system can play a limited role in naval warfare. Multiple or multiple types of unmanned combat systems can participate in combat operations at the same time and form a network, so as to exert the maximum operational effectiveness. The application of Internet of Things technology in unmanned systems will be more and more extensive, and the connection between manned systems and unmanned systems will be closer and more convenient.

Fourthly, further optimize the man-machine cooperation: with the gradual improvement of the autonomous ability of unmanned surface craft, the operation of manual intervention will be greatly reduced, and one operator can control more unmanned surface craft. Realize the seamless cooperation of manned/unmanned systems and rationally allocate the tasks of "man-machine".

The US Navy will form various formations consisting of littoral combat ships and unmanned boats to support anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare, amphibious warfare and other combat operations. This will be a major change in the composition of the US navy and should be highly concerned.