EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – U.S. Air force aircraft and weapons test experts needed small uncrewed surface vessels to help test maritime instrumentation and tracking payloads. They found a solution from Liquid Robotics Inc. in Herndon, Va.
Officials of the Air Force Test Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., announced a $25 million contract to Liquid Robotics last week for 20 Wave Glider SV3 uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) for the center's Gulf Test and Training Range (GTTR) over the Gulf of Mexico.
These 10-foot unmanned boats will help the Air Force test maritime instrumentation and tracking payloads for their utility in persistent maritime sensing, communications relay, and autonomous surface operations. The contract to Liquid Robotics includes control software, payloads, and peripheral launch and recovery equipment.
The WaveGlider SV3 surface vessel is 10 feet long, and has a 26-foot dangling cable attached to a 7-foot submersible propulsion system, which uses surface wave action to move submerged fins that propel the surface vessel forward. The USV can operate round the clock for long-duration missions that can last for as long as several months.
Ocean test range use
The WaveGlider SV3 has been proven in support of Air Force and Navy missions; Air Force test experts will integrate these uncrewed boats into existing test range capability that already includes 14 SV3 Wave Gliders.
The USV moves slowly through the water -- about two knots or slower -- and uses solar batteries for its minimal electric power requirements. It uses satellite, cell phone, wi-fi, and line-of-sight radio communications; and can carry sensors for maritime domain awareness, anti-submarine warfare, and environmental surface monitoring.
Air Force test experts also may use the WaveGlider SV3 for evaluating maritime autonomous capabilities; to support overwater instrumentation and tracking; and for ocean domain awareness and distributed sensing.
100,000-square-mile sea space
Eglin's Air Force Test Center Test Range covers roughly 120,000 square miles of airspace and more than 100,000 square miles of sea space, which makes it one of the largest over-water military test ranges in the world.
The range is for live missile launches and guided bomb tests; aircraft weapons separation testing; uncrewed aircraft and surface vessel testing; radar, electronic warfare (EW), and sensor evaluation; and impact tracking and telemetry tests.
The contract also involves foreign military sales to Japan. On this contract, Liquid Robotics will do the work in Herndon, Va., and should be finished by February 2028. For more information contact Liquid Robotics online at www.liquid-robotics.com/markets/defense-security, or the Air Force Test Center-Eglin Air Force Base at www.eglin.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/390959/96th-test-wing.
