Boeing has successfully demonstrated for the first time that an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) can be recovered by an underway submerged submarine.
During recent tests, a US Navy attack submarine launched the AN/BLQ-11 UUV from one of its torpedo tubes. The vehicle, formerly called the Long-term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS), then returned to the vessel, where the system's robotic arm, which extends from another of the host submarine's torpedo tubes, brought it back into the submarine.
The at-sea UUV tests follow earlier assessments during which Boeing and the navy proved that the UUV could successfully home and dock with the system's robotic arm, while the submarine was underway.
The UUV also performed several complex vehicle manoeuvers during the tests, including operating underwater alongside the host submarine.
This Boeing UUV has been developed to survey, detect and gather data on underwater threats such as mines that could pose significant risk to sailors
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