Could the solution for achieving truly sustainable shipping be blowing in the wind, literally?

The Oceanbird, an automobile-carrying cargo ship, may soon be sailing to a port near you on a stiff breeze. Swedish shipping company Wallenius Marine leading a study of wind-powered ships, along with a Swedish consortium of the KTH Centre for Naval Architecture, and maritime tech developer SSPA, with funding from the Swedish Transport Administration, with a goal of designing Wind Powered Car Carrier (WPCC) by 2021.

Oceanbird features vertical metal or composite wings to harness wind energy for propulsion. They will be raised and lowered telescopically and will be fully rotational. The ship will have diesel engines for entering and leaving port, and to augment the sails to maintain schedules. Wind-powered car carriers will generate less speed than today’s conventionally-powered ships, and will take about 12 days to cross the Atlantic instead of the usual seven or eight. The tradeoff is a vastly reduced fuel costs and emissions. The WPCC will carry 7,000 automobiles.

“We’ve been working on this for several years,” said Carl-Johan Söder, a naval architect with Wallenius Marine during a webinar today (September 10, 2020).  “Today we’re introducing design 3.0.”

Approximately 450 large car transporters currently carry vehicles across the oceans between continents, each using about 40 tons of fossil fuel per day. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the maritime transport industry has established a goal of reducing overall carbon emissions by half by 2050. The WPCC team is aiming even higher.

“We are going much further and aiming for a reduction of 80-90 percent,” said Prof. Jakob Kuttenkeuler of the KTH Centre of Naval Architecture in Stockholm.  “This entails a paradigm shift as today’s ships travel far too fast and with high fuel consumption. We are developing the world’s first emission free shipping concept in modern times.”

Kuttenkeuler said the design is a blend of aerospace and marine engineering. “The rigging should be aerodynamically optimized, robust, light and cheap to manufacture. It can be likened to designing sailing mechanics for an airplane that is going to be tossed about at sea.”

The Swedish Transport Administration provided US$3.01 million to the consortium for the WPCC research project. KTH was commissioned to provide aerodynamic and sailing mechanics expertise including calculations of performance and route optimization. SSPA will perform water hydrodynamic modelling and testing to validate concepts and designs. 

A 1:25 scale model of the WPCC is being evaluated at SSPA in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

“We have done extensive computer simulations. Now we need to confirm these simulations with the experiments to get more accurate numbers of the performance and the forces acting on the ship,” said Sofia Werner, Manager Strategic Research Hydrodynamics at SSPA.

Students at KTH developed a seven-meter model to conduct” sea trials” at Viggbyholm, north of Stockholm.

“Putting it in water the first time helps a lot afterwards. Now we know more precisely how the boat will behave and we can calculate how to make it stable,” says Ulysse Dhomé, Project Supervisor at KTH.

Per Tunell, COO, Wallenius Marine said the Wind Powered Car Carrier project “changes the prerequisites for oceangoing sea transportation.”

The team said the wind concept can be applied to other types of ships in the future.

“The industry faces enormous challenges in terms of sustainability and this type of solution with wind powered ships on the oceans is by far the most interesting solution for achieving truly sustainable shipping,” Tunell said.

The research effort will run until 2023, and the team expects to have a full-size ship soon after.

“I’m absolute sure this will happen,” said Tunnell.  “Definitely.”

ARLINGTON, Va. —The Arctic, already an area of competing maritime, commercial and territorial claims among nations bordering the high latitudes, is also “an ideal site” for the launch of  strategic missiles, say two retired admirals from the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Russia is building ice-capable combatants that can launch cruise missiles,” former U.S. Coast Guard commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft told a livestreamed panel discussion at the 2020 Defense News Conference Sept. 9, adding that those missiles can range as far south as Miami, Florida. The Coast Guard has only two ice breakers and one was recently sidelined by a shipboard fire. The Navy has no vessels with ice-hardened hulls (see  https://seapowermagazine.org/u-s-lacks-ice-hardened-ships-repair-and-refueling-ports-for-arctic-ops/)

Retired British Rear Adm. Simon Williams, a former submarine commander and senior Royal Navy and Defence Ministry planner, went even further on the strategic importance of the region at the top of the globe.

“It can be used, because of its location, as a very short missile launching site,” he said. During the Cold War, when Soviet, U.S. and NATO allies’ submarines patrolled beneath Arctic seas, “we spent a huge amount of effort in tracking submarines into the High Arctic.”

While the Cold War is over “the physics don’t change,” he noted. “The reality of the High Arctic is that as a strategic area, it is of great interest for all of us for that very reason. It provides us an ideal site for the strategic launch” and with new missiles in the near future “for tactical launch as well.”

The increasing decline of sea ice in the Arctic has opened potential sea lanes in the summer months, sparking territorial disputes. Russia, Norway, Canada and the United States all have boosted their military presence in the Arctic at a rate not seen for decades. China, calling itself a near-Arctic nation, is eager to use a trans-Arctic route to move its goods and is building its own ice breakers while partnering with Russia on commercial projects in the region.

Russia has opened a new large new base while refitting seven former Soviet bases within the Arctic Circle. Moscow also has modernized its powerful Northern Fleet, increasing submarine activity and building polar icebreakers armed with cruise missiles. In response, the United States has reconstituted the 2nd Fleet, adding the North Pole to its area of responsibility.

Currently the most viable trans-Arctic crossing is the Northern sea route bordering Russia, which considers it sovereign territory. A new Russian agency requires foreign naval ships to give 45 days advance notice before transiting, provide crew manifests and declare their intentions.  The United States sees the northern route as an international waterway, said Zukunft, adding Russia’s demands are complete violation of the freedom of navigation. “Unfortunately, we don’t have reliable ships to challenge Russia on that front,” he said, suggesting working with Canada and other allies to protect U.S. interests.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps plans to deploy armed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles in the “coming months,” the Navy’s program executive officer for Unmanned and Strike Weapons (PEO-UMW) said. 

“The MQ-9 Reaper provides increased lethality to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force by providing persistent ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and strike capability which the Marine Corps has not previously possessed in an unmanned system,” said Rear Adm. Brian Corey, program executive officer – Unmanned and Strike Weapons, speaking Sept. 9 at the Unmanned Systems Defense, Protection, Security virual conference sponsored by the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. 

The MQ-9 Reaper is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle used for surveillance and strike operations. The Reaper is a battle-proven development of the RQ-1 Predator, upgraded for longer endurance, a heavier payload, and the ability to launch heavier precision munitions in a benign aerial environment.  

“Last year, in response to an Urgent Needs Statement from the U.S. Marine Corps, we helped them acquire an MQ-9 Reaper and operated it outside the continental United States in support of forces forward for persistent ISR,” Corey said. “We’ve recently transitioned to add a persistent strike capability which the Marines will operate in the coming months which will give them a capability that they have not had from unmanned systems.” 

The Naval Air Systems Command ordered the two Reapers from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), of Poway, California, with a $26.9 million firm-fixed-price contract, according to the June 22 Defense Department announcement. The contract also provides for one dual-control mobile ground-control station, one modular data center and one mobile ground-control station  

The Marine Corps selected the Reaper in 2018 to fill an urgent needs request for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) in support of forward operations in Southwest Asia. GA-ASI has provided ISR services since September 2018 through contractor-owned/contractor-operated (COCO) Reapers and their teams to support Marine Corp forces in Afghanistan. Marine UAV squadrons (VMUs) have been learning to operate the Reaper in preparation for the Corps’ procurement of government-owned/government operated MQ-9s. On March 20, 2020, a Marine crew of VMU-1 controlled a COCO Reaper for the first time on an operational mission in support of forward-deployed ground forces.  

Corey said the operation of the MQ-9 will help the Marine Corps learn how to operate a Group 5 UAS and inform its future MUX program.   

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s acquisition official for unmanned aerial systems said he is looking for ideas to meet a new requirement that has come down from regional combatant commanders (COCOMs).  

“Now we have a new demand coming from the COCOM for increased range,” said Rear Adm. Brian Corey, program executive officer – Unmanned and Strike Weapons, speaking Sept. 9 at the Unmanned Systems Defense, Protection, Security virtual conference sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. 

“There’s currently no product line that industry has designed that meets our requirements,” Corey said. “This is where we need industry’s innovative thinking to help us deliver this increased capability in the future and to do it quickly.” 

Corey gave no additional details, but range has become a more precious characteristic in an era of great power competition, when standoff at greater ranges has become more crucial for forces in view of more sophisticated Chinese, Russian and Iranian weaponry. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy is planning a series of upgrades to the Boeing Insitu-built RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aerial system, an acquisition official said.  

“We’re continuing to look at upgrades for the system,” said Rear Adm. Brian Corey, program executive officer – Unmanned and Strike Weapons, speaking Sept. 9 at the Unmanned Systems Defense, Protection, Security virtual conference sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. “Some of our future initiatives include beyond-line-of-sight capability; a vertical-takeoff-and-landing kit; a bandwidth-efficient common data link, and a portable ground-control station.” 

The Blackjack, built by Boeing’s Insitu, is a twin-boom, single-engine, small tactical unmanned aerial vehicle that carries modular payloads mostly for surveillance. It is pneumatically launched and is recovered using a skyhook arrestment system. A single Blackjack system includes five UAVs, two ground control stations, various payloads and a set of launch and recovery systems. 

The fielding of the RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aerial system achieved full operational capability in 2019. All 21 systems for the Marine Corps and 10 for the Navy have been delivered to fleet and training units.  

The Blackjack now equips four Marine UAV squadrons plus a fleet replacement detachment. The Marine Corps deploys the Blackjack with its Marine expeditionary units onboard amphibious warfare ships. The 10 systems for the Navy have been delivered to Navy Special Warfare Command and made two deployments in 2019. 

 “The RQ-21 has flown over 14,000 hours and has seen some of the highest readiness rates in all of naval aviation,” Corey said. 

NEW ORLEANS, LA. – Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. company, announced Sept. 9 the successful fly-away of its first two next-generation air cushion vehicles, Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC) Craft 100 and LCAC 101, on Sept. 2. 

The two craft departed Textron Systems’ New Orleans, Louisiana, shipyard, where they liaised with U.S. Navy asset Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) 091 – built by Textron in 2000 – for the last leg of their journey to the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Florida. 

Prior to this milestone, Craft 100 and LCAC 101 completed Builder’s and Acceptance Trials, followed by formal acceptance by the U.S. Navy customer. Craft 100 is intended to serve as a test and training asset for the customer, while LCAC 101 is the first craft for operational use. Currently, twelve additional SSCs are in progress at Textron Systems’ shipyard. 

“We are proud of the achievement that this fly-away represents as we strive to equip the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps with the unmatched capability set of the SSC,” said Henry Finneral, senior vice president of Textron Systems. “The SSC will provide the versatility needed to transport critical personnel, weapon systems, equipment and cargo the last mile, even in the most challenging environments.” 

The SSC stands ready to replace the existing legacy fleet as a true upgrade for the LCAC forces at Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 4, ACU 5 and Naval Beach Unit 7. The craft can travel at a sustained 35 knots and has an increased payload capacity and a service life of 30 years. 

SSC’s similar configurations, dimensions and clearances to the legacy LCAC make it compatible with existing well deck-equipped amphibious ships, as well as Expeditionary Transfer Dock and Expeditionary Sea Bases. The SSC’s expanded capability set, versatility and built-in compatibility promise a smooth transition for users. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — One of the big challenges facing the U.S. Navy in the future deployment of unmanned systems is how to obtain and use them effectively on a global scale, the Navy’s top acquisition official says.

Unmanned systems are already a key part of the force, whether in the air, on the surface or under it,  but “how do we scale that to take advantage of the unique opportunities” they provide the Navy, James “Hondo” Geurts asked in a Sept. 8 livestreamed keynote address to the Unmanned Systems Defense, Protection, Security virtual conference.

“We need to be bold in trying new things,” said Geurts, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Research, Development and Acquisition, “but disciplined in how we scale that so we don’t get into exquisite fragility, where we have systems in one specific niche for one specific set of conditions.”

Geurts said scale and balance are two key attributes going forward. He noted Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday’s unmanned systems campaign plan seeks to move from a collection of  systems, often treated as unique, into an integrated capability that share command and control, concepts of operations and data systems and avoid reinventing the wheel for every platform.

A key challenge is “how we’re going to communicate with all these different systems and how they can come in and out of our network,” Geurts said. It will take technology that can cut across multiple platforms, to align technical, business, programmatic and operational architectures, he said.

Geurts was asked if large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) should be counted as ships, an issue that has roiled the debate over how to increase the Navy’s size to 355 ships.  Geurts said he was “less interested in what numbers we count in what column.” He is more interested in a vessel’s capability, and when they prove they have the capability “appropriate for what we consider right now a battle force ship, then we’ll  put them in the right column,” Geurts said.

“In the end we have to get away from manned vs, unmanned. It’s manned and unmanned together, that will enable us to be the most successful,” he added.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy’s U.S. Pacific Fleet is planning a Fleet Battle Problem next year that will feature unmanned systems in air, surface, and undersea domains, a Navy admiral announced, noting that “an unmanned Fleet Battle Problem is a pretty new concept.” 

“We’re going to issue a PlanOrd [Planning Order] next week that we’re going to order an unmanned fleet battle problem,” said Rear Adm. Robert Gaucher, director, Maritime Headquarters, U.S. Pacific Fleet, speaking Sept. 8 at the Defense, Protection, Security virtual conference sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.  

Gaucher explained that Fleet Battle Problems are run “to get after one of these key operational problems. We’re going to do two for early 2021 to be able to run a Fleet Battle Problem centered on unmanned. It will be on the sea, above the sea and under the sea … as we get to demonstrating how we can align to the [Indo-Pacific Command] directives to use experimentation to drive lethality.” 

The admiral said “we haven’t worked out all the details. I know there will be a command-and-control aspect to it as we build and figure out what the best command-and-control is, working with [Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm.] Lorin Selby and seeing what his options are for some of the payloads and sensors that we can bring in, as well as demonstrating some autonomy in an actual fleet problem, run by either the shore and, at points, ships at sea as we try to press the advantage against our adversaries.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has placed an order for two versions of the H-1 helicopter from Bell Textron for the Czech Republic, the Defense Department said in a Sept. 4 release.  

The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Bell Textron a $272 million fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract for the production and delivery of eight UH-1Y Venom and four AH-1Z Viper helicopters for the government of the Czech Republic under the Foreign Military Sales Program.  

The UH1-Y and AH-1Z both are front-line helicopters used by the Marine Corps. The production of 160 UH-1Ys for the Corps was completed in 2018, while production of 189 AH-1Zs continues. Pakistan also has received 12 AH-1Zs and Bahrain has been approved for 12 AH-1Zs. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy is increasing the berthing on its fourth and fifth expeditionary sea base ships (ESBs) to meet the increasing operational demand this class of ships has experienced since it first deployed.  

The Navy’s supervisor of Shipbuilding, Bath, Detachment San Diego, San Diego, California, awarded National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, California, a $35.6 million fixed-price-incentive modification to previously-awarded contract to incorporate a modification to the ships’ forward house Habitability Modification in support of Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) 6 and ESB 7, the Defense Department said in a Sept. 4 announcement.  

“This Engineering Change Proposal is applicable to ESB 6 and ESB 7 to modify the existing ESB class berthing requirement to support an additional 100 military crewmembers and is deemed essential to Fleet operational requirements planned for this class of ships,” the announcement said. 

The Navy has forward-deployed its first two ESBs. USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) has been in the Persian Gulf and has supported mine countermeasures and special operations forces, among other roles. The USS Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB 4) deployed this year to the Mediterranean Sea. The third ESB, Miguel Keith (ESB 5) has been delivered to the Navy. 

Work is expected to be completed by January 2024.