Maritime Autonomous Systems à la Française

Here come the drones.

They’re everywhere. Uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs)… They are present in large numbers at Euronaval, but nowhere to be found onboard French warships.

“Be patient,» says Emmanuel Chiva, who heads the French Defence procurement and technology agency DGA.

Feedback from the Ukrainian theatre and the Red Sea, where the Houthis are attacking every ship they can, has convinced observers of the seriousness of the drone threat within the space of just a few months.

«It’s been a very long time since we’ve had missiles launched from the sea», insists the head of the DGA, echoing the words of the French Minister for the Armed Forces: military ships are indeed weapons of war, they are not pleasure craft.

Except that in the Red Sea, the problem arises of characte- rising and identifying targets: how to neutralise them, what weapon systems to use…

To date, 22 Aster missiles (MBDA) have been fired by French Navy vessels. But at around €1 million each, there is an ur- gent need to find the right solution to match the level of threat. A very short operational feedback loop for ships re- turning from the zone has been set up between the DGA, the French Navy and manufacturers. This has led, for example, to Paseo systems (Safran) being fitted on the FREMM multi-purpose frigates.

With so many drone solutions on offer, Emmanuel Chiva feels that experimentation is still necessary: «You can’t just put anything on a ship.» He won’t give an exact date, but Emmanuel Chiva says that «things should come on board very shortly.»

Conversion to drones is under way in a number of programmes, such as mine warfare and the future hydrographic and oceanographic capability (CHOF).

Testing currently under way includes Naval Group’s ocean drone demonstrator, which is a step towards the future un- manned combat underwater vehicle (UCUV) system. According to Emmanuel Chiva, the concept of operations has still to be defined: «Area denial? Anti-surface ship? Underwater detection? First and forcible entry?»

Launched by the French Navy, the first Dronathlon took place in October. The initial idea was to check that French organisations and structures were suitable. They are, according to Emmanuel Chiva, who says: «We are currently studying the creation of a state-run naval drone test centre and the conclu- sions of this study should be available before the end of the year.»

Other avenues under consideration include the use of drones at the entrance to the port of Brest or in the carrier battle group.

This article was published in the Euronaval Daily Report, 6 November 2024.

Naval Group Press Release 28 December 2023

On December 28, 2023, DGA awarded Naval Group a framework agreement for the design, production and testing of an Unmanned Combat Underwater Vehicle (UCUV) demonstrator. A first follow-on contract was also signed for the design and development of Naval Group’s Autonomous Decision-Making Process (ADMP) and secure autonomous navigation.

This framework agreement follows on the contract awarded to Naval Group on May 4, 2023 for the study of the main use cases and system architecture of an UCUV. The objective is to conduct studies and evaluate the technologies identified to meet the French Navy’s main use cases, and thus design and develop the UCUV demonstrator.

Aurore Neuschwander, Naval Group’s Director of Drones, Autonomous Systems and Underwater Weapons, stated: “Naval Group is very proud to support the French Ministry of Armed Forces in the study of this innovative and disruptive naval capability. We will leverage the know-how we acquired in naval unmanned systems over the last ten years, and in particular our XL-UUV demonstrator, which will serve as a platform for technology integration and testing. This ambitious project will contribute to the creation of a French industry of excellence in naval unmanned systems, of which Naval Group will be one of the federators”.

The first subsequent contract to this framework agreement will run for 24 months. It will enable the development of a version of the Autonomous Decision-Making Process (ADMP or ADC© in French, for Autonomie Décisionnelle contrôlée) designed to strengthen mission planning and monitoring, and secure surface and underwater navigation which are essential functions for an autonomous, enduring, multi-mission system.

Other follow-on contracts are planned in order to develop the technologies needed to meet the challenges of long endurance, underwater detection and sub-order implementation.

Unmanned systems at the heart of collaborative naval combat

Unmanned systems play an increasingly important role in naval combat, providing navies with the technological and tactical superiority they need. With the UCUV project, France joins a very select group of countries engaged in the definition, development and evaluation of a first XL-UUV (ExtraLarge Unmanned Underwater Vehicle). Through this project, the French Ministry of Armed Forces will benefit from technological breakthroughs and innovations in the fields of robotics, drones and artificial intelligence, in order to evaluate a new naval capability that could provide a mediumterm operational response to new areas of conflict and asymmetric combat.

Naval Group’s XL UUV Demonstrator at the heart of the UCUV project

The XL UUV Demonstrator, whose sea qualification was completed at the end of summer 2023, will be a key component of the UCUV project. It will enable short-cycle evaluation of the technologies, such as ADMP and energy, needed to confirm the technical choices linked to the design of the future UCUV demonstrator. This innovative method will provide agile guidance for the project, enabling the UCUV demonstrator to be built within the defined budget and schedule.

Autonomous Decision-Making Process (ADMP), the on-board brain of autonomous systems

In an environment where communications are limited and sometimes impossible or unwanted, it is essential to be able to guarantee a mission’s success with complete confidence. With this logic in mind, Naval Group has developed ADMP, which aims providing a capability extension to unmanned systems operation in the context of a long-term mission, by enabling them to carry out their missions without remote control, thus making them autonomous systems.

Thanks to continuous replanning based on tactical situation analysis, ADMP enables autonomous systems to adapt to tactical hazards, to the environment where they operate and to potential damage. This system enables autonomous systems to accomplish their mission alone or in collaboration, while respecting the doctrine of use.

ADMP guarantees compliance with the human operator’s orders in terms of mission objectives, rules of behavior and degrees of freedom left to the autonomous system.