Contenu
With operational theatres becoming increasingly complex, the controlled decision-making autonomy offered by these drones significantly reduces the operator’s cognitive load, enabling greater focus on critical and strategic missions.
Autonomous systems also enhance situational awareness across the vast and sparse maritime environment, providing vital information to anticipate threats. In practical terms, certain areas that are impossible to monitor at present can now be assessed without human intervention, regardless of the operational stakes or the type of mission.
For UUVs to reach their full potential, both endurance and decision-making autonomy are crucial, especially given the very limited bandwidth for underwater communication. While the technical and technological challenges remain significant, ongoing innovations are steadily unlocking the tactical potential of these drones.
A historical know-how
Naval Group leads the way in this field by drawing on extensive experience with operational challenges, close collaboration with sailors that fosters iterative innovation and significant investments in critical technologies, particularly in endurance and controlled decision-making. The group’s long-standing expertise in torpedoes provides a distinct competitive advantage in this domain. Furthermore, Naval Group’s innovation approach, supported by dedicated internal resources and a network of industrial and academic partners (all of whom are experts in their field), enables a rapid transition from demonstrator to the industrialisation of an operational onboard capability.
Naval Group has developed a secure, scalable and modular battery solution guaranteeing drone endurance. Easily embeddable, it was designed in partnership and through an iterative collaborative process with Naval Group’s subsidiary Accuwatt Technologies, a leading player in high-tech professional battery systems. Another strength is its modularity, allowing adaptation to a wide range of medium- and large-sized drones.
As for decision-making autonomy, which is essentially the drone’s “brain,” the Steeris® On Board software supports operators across all missions. The software is deployed by the Steeris® Box, which adapts to any type of drone.
Naval Group is taking things a step further by developing autonomous perception for drones in collaboration with research institutes. In other words: giving them eyes to see better, farther and report faster. This marks a step that further strengthens human-machine collaboration, greatly enhancing operational capability.
