NOMARS (No Manning Required, Ship) is a concept for a range of ships and smaller watercraft operating as unmanned surface vessels (USV) for the US Department of Defense, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).[1]

The USV concept crafts range in size and form. Examples include:

In a test as part of DARPA’s NOMARS program, the USV Mariner (right) deploys a refueling probe towards the USV Ranger (left) in the first test of fueling at sea (FAS) without any human interaction required on the part of the receiving vessel. The personnel aboard the Ranger are observers only.

By removing the human element from all ship design considerations, NOMARS will demonstrate significant advantages, to include size, cost (procurement, operations, and sustainment), at-sea reliability, survivability to sea-state, survivability to adversary actions (stealth considerations, resistance to tampering, etc.), and hydrodynamic efficiency (hull optimization without consideration for crew safety or comfort).[4]

In 2022, ship designer Serco was selected to develop the NOMARS program through building, testing, and demonstrating the first generation ship.[5]

In December 2024, NOMARS completed a successful first test of at-sea refueling designed for use with the USV Defiant.[6][7]

USX-1 Defiant, the 180-foot-long, 240-metric ton medium USV, was first seen in public in March 2025 near the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island.[8] USX-1 Defiant does not have any mission or combat systems installed onboard and will conduct sea trials in the spring of 2025.[9]

References

  1. ^ "No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS)". www.darpa.mil. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
  2. ^ DARPA’s latest mad science experiment: A ship designed to operate completely without humans, David B. Larter, DefenseNews.com, 2020-01-21
  3. ^ Here’s the DARPA project it says could pull the Navy a decade forward in unmanned technology, David B. Larter, C4ISRNet.com, 2020-05-07
  4. ^ Larter, David (2020-01-21). "DARPA's latest mad science experiment: A ship designed to operate completely without humans". Defense News. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
  5. ^ "No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) Program to Build, Test, Demonstrate First Ship". DARPA. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  6. ^ Jamison, Miles (2024-12-23). "DARPA Tests USV Autonomous Refueling Capability". executivegov.com. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
  7. ^ "Automated fueling-at-sea test completed for unmanned surface vehicle program | DARPA". drupal.darpa.mil. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
  8. ^ Joseph Trevithick (4 March 2025). "Mysterious Naval Vessel Spotted In Washington State Is A New DARPA Drone Ship". The War Zone. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  9. ^ Katz, Justin (2025-03-05). "No sailors in sight: DARPA launches warship designed 'from the ground up' to be truly unmanned". Breaking Defense. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOMARS
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