Within a year from now, the U.S. Navy's fleet will have new self-guided automatic patrol boats that swarm, attack, or even destroy potentially lethal threats on the water.

The Office of Naval Research based in Arlington has demonstrated the unmanned swarming boat technology over a span of two weeks in August on the James River in Virginia near Fort Eustis, one of the U.S. Navy's biggest areas of fleet concentration. The U.S. Navy simulation involved a transit through a strait, which is similar to the routine passage of U.S. Navy warships passing through the Strait of Hormuz situated in the Persian Gulf.

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The demonstrations included 13 small automatic patrol boats that were escorting and guarding a high-value U.S. Navy ship. Eight of the 13 unmanned patrol boats left the formation and swarmed around an enemy vessel simulating a threat. The U.S. Navy called the demonstration successful.

According to Robert Brizzolara, Office Naval Research program manager, the automatic boats can decide for themselves on what maneuvers to do once a threat is detected. The boats can work together to block and encircle around the path of the potential threatening vessel.

The new self-guided unmanned patrol boats are inflatable and has a rigid-hull, it can also discharge .50 caliber machine guns if needed. But, the said patrol boats can only fire and use lethal force when a human commands the machines to do so. The human in charge of the automatic boats can take over the control of any of the patrol boats at any given moment.

The development of the automatic patrol boats was largely inspired by the USS Cole incident, where 17 sailors were killed and 39 injured by a small boat that was packing explosives.

"I can tell you the systems we just put out on the water would've prevented the Cole," said Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, Naval Research chief.

TagsUnmanned swarming boat technology