NOMAD Unmanned Surface Vessel of U.S. Navy Transits Panama Canal
Our Bureau05:41 AM, June 8, 2021948
The U.S. Navy said it concluded a second long-range autonomous transit with a Ghost Fleet Overlord Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) from the Gulf Coast, passing through the Panama Canal, to the West Coast.
The unmanned vessel, named NOMAD, traveled 4,421 nautical miles (nm), 98% of which was in autonomous mode. The first Ghost Fleet Overlord vessel, RANGER, completed a similar transit in October 2020. Both USVs passed through the Panama Canal while in manual mode.
The NOMAD transit provided an opportunity for extended testing of vessel endurance, autonomous operations, and interoperability of government command, control, communications, computers and intelligence systems with vendor autonomy, hull mechanical and hull electrical systems. Remote mission command and control for the NOMAD transit was conducted from an ashore Unmanned Operations Center operated by U.S. Navy Sailors from Surface Development Squadron One, an official service release said.
“This is another significant milestone for SCO’s Ghost Fleet Overlord program and supports the Navy’s Unmanned Campaign Framework by adding a second Overlord vessel to the West Coast. The SCO Ghost Fleet Overlord program serves to inform Navy prototype efforts by integrating mature technologies to accelerate Service priorities and is a key piece of the build a little, test a little, and learn a lot philosophy articulated in the Navy Unmanned Campaign Framework,” said SCO Director Jay Dryer.
https://www.defenseworld.net/news/29749/NOMAD_Unmanned_Surface_Vessel_of_U_S__Navy_Transits_Panama_Canal#.YL_f4eopDZE
