기타 미 해병대, 물자수송용 무인 반잠수정 시험

[위종민]

미 해병대가 마약밀수용 반잠수정과 유사한 물자수송용 무인 반잠수정을 2월 23일부터 시작돼 한 달간 계속될 프로젝트 컨버전스 연습에서 시험할 예정이라고 지난 화요일 미해병대 관계자가 밝혔습니다. 

적들이 보급선을 차단하려고 시도하는 상황 하에서의 재보급 임무 수행을 위한 연구의 일환이며, 지난 1년 동안 스피어헤드급 원정고속수송함 및 웰덱을 갖춘 함정(stern landing vessel)에서 물자 탑재 및 하역 시험을 포함한 성능시험을 해왔다고 합니다. 가격도 매우 저렴하고 NSM 2발도 탑재할 수 있게 설계됐으나 더 많은 수량을 조달하려면 중소기업이 아닌 더 큰 회사가 제작을 해야 한다고 하네요. 

https://news.usni.org/2024/02/13/marine-to-test-logistics-drone-inspired-by-drug-running-narco-subs

Marines to Test Logistics Drone Inspired by Drug Running Narco Subs

MALLORY SHELBOURNE

FEBRUARY 13, 2024 9:22 PM

USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) with embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) 407 conducts enhanced counter-narcotics operations, Dec. 5, 2020. US Navy Photo

SAN DIEGO – The Marine Corps will soon test a prototype logistics supply drone inspired by drug smuggling narco subs, a service official said Tuesday.

The upcoming month-long Project Convergence drills in California will allow the Marine Corps to test the autonomous low-profile vessel, a potential way for the Marine Corps to perform resupply missions in a wartime scenario when adversaries would seek to cut off sea lines of communication.

“This upcoming Capstone 4 is going to be the first operational [event] in the context of an exercise where we’re going to use it,” Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl told reporters at the WEST 2024 conference, co-hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA.

Heckl, the deputy commandant for combat development and integration, described the unmanned semi-submersible vessel as “very, very affordable, almost to the point of being attritable.” The service has had the platform for about a year and performed tests, including loading and offloading the prototype from a stern landing vessel and a Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship in the James River in Virginia.

The vessel is modeled after narco submarines used by drug runners, which Heckl noted Joint Interagency Task Force South has trouble tracking in U.S. Southern Command. In a contested logistics environment, the Marine Corps would need assets that could perform the resupply mission without adversary detection, meaning a semi-submersible with minimal wake is an ideal option.

“We just took a page out of the narco drug runners’ playbook,” he said.

The autonomous low-profile vessel can carry two Naval Strike Missiles and fulfills the Marine Corps’ need to focus on lethality in a contested logistics, Heckl said.

“It’s specifically form functioned to meet the cube and weight of two [Naval] Strike Missiles for our NMESIS systems,” he said, referring to the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System.

Several years ago, the Marine Corps worked with Raytheon to mount a Naval Strike Missile on a modified unmanned Joint Light Tactical Vehicle chassis, using a Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary (ROGUE) Fires as the launcher. Since then, ROGUE NMESIS has emerged as a key part of the Marine Corps’ pursuit of anti-ship weapons capability.

Heckl said a small business built the original vessel prototype, but that the Marine Corps would likely need a larger company to build the vessels if the service wants to buy more.

“You can imagine if these things are inexpensive and we can develop a different variant to do a different kind of logistics mission,” he said. “But right now, again, based on the direction of staying focused on lethality, that’s where we went with this. And it’s working well.”

Project Convergence will kick off Feb. 23 and continue for about a month at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and the Army’s National Training Center, according to a U.S. Army news release about the exercise. The Army-led exercise will include participation from the Pentagon’s five military services and several allies and partners.

[Minowski(김유철)]

블루팀발 도쿄익스프레스 시나리오라 봐야겠네요.

[위종민]

딱 봐도 미해병대가 과달카날 전역 연구를 열심히 한 티가 납니다.