Navy slows pursuit of autonomous vessels for coastal surveillance.

• Author: Wagner, Breanne

* The Navy has expressed considerable interest in acquiring unmanned vessels that would patrol coastal areas and help protect surface combatants from terrorist attacks.

Budgetary and technological issues, however, are now slowing down the development and procurement of these vehicles.

The terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000 prompted both Navy and Coast Guard officials to consider the use of autonomous vessels--known as unmanned surface vehicles--to detect and deter suicide bombers and other threats.

But it does not appear that large numbers of these vehicles will be in the fleet in the foreseeable future, experts said. At a time when the Navy faces a budget crunch in its shipbuilding accounts, purchasing new robotic technology is not a top priority right now, said James Jay Carafano, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative think tank.

Another reason for the delay in adopting robotic technology is that the Navy doesn't want to take risks with systems that are unknown to most sailors and have seen little operational use, Carafano said. "There's always a degree of reticence with new systems until there's enough testing and experience."

Until recently, the military was generally "reluctant to embrace robotics," he noted. It was not until the Army began to deploy small robots for explosive detection and other duties in Iraq that the military realized how useful they really are, said Carafano. The Navy may one day feel the same way about unmanned surface vehicles, he said. It is possible that, years from now, "the Navy will likely be the greatest proponent of robotics."

The Navy has purchased four small unmanned surface vehicles--manufactured by General Dynamics Robotic Systems--for use with the littoral combat ship anti-submarine warfare mission module, but it has yet to procure larger, more expensive systems suitable for coastal surveillance.

A larger weapon-loaded unmanned surface vehicle, called Protector, is one of the systems that are being marketed to the Navy and Coast Guard. Built by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Ltd., based in Israel, Protector comes in seven-to 11-meter configurations with an aluminum, rigid, deep-v hull. It is equipped with electro-optical sensors for surveillance, identification and targeting. Its weapons can fire small-caliber ammunition. Although the company characterizes the vehicle as autonomous, meaning it can operate on its own, Protector requires two human...