Germany has concluded trials of the large Blue Whale underwater drone
Earlier this week, the German Navy concluded operational trials of Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) BlueWhale autonomous submarine.
Its intelligence gathering and target acquisition capabilities were evaluated during operational experimentation trials (OPEX), both above and below water in the Baltic Sea.
OPEX was launched as a precursor to the German Navy's Marine 2035 framework, allowing the Navy to test new approaches and technologies under realistic conditions.
“The German Navy has just completed operational trials in the Baltic Sea of the IAI's BlueWhale autonomous submarine, together with NATO and Atlas Elektronik, a maritime high-tech company,” the IAI said.
“The trials demonstrated the technological effectiveness of integrating unmanned vessels into the military response to future threats.”
Here is a video of the vehicle
BlueWhale
The unmanned underwater vessel was unveiled in May 2023 as a cost-effective alternative to a manned submarine.
It is said to be capable of carrying out a range of missions, including intelligence gathering, underwater and marine mine detection, and searching for underwater targets.
BlueWhale detects marine and coastal targets through a telescopic mast equipped with radar and electro-optical systems.
This information is then transmitted in real time via a satellite communications antenna to command posts around the world.
The vessel also uses towed sonar and flank array sonar for submarine detection and acoustic information collection. For mine detection, it uses dedicated synthetic aperture sonar.
The battery-powered platform lasts up to three weeks and can be housed in a 12-metre container.
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The article Germany has concluded tests of the large Blue Whale underwater drone comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-germania-ha-concluso-le-prove-del-grande-drone-sottomarino-blue-whale/ on Sat, 30 Nov 2024 08:30:44 +0000.