Tag Archives: NOAA usv

NOAA: USV Powerhouse?

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NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey (OCS) is currently utilizing fully uncrewed contract USVs for an offshore hydrographic survey mission along the Florida Gulf Coast.

Operated by Woolpert, the mission is being conducted by Chance Maritime’s Chance MC29 and larger MC40 platforms.

The Chance MC40

Chance MC40

Over the multi-month project, Woolpert will survey approximately 11,000 linear nautical miles. Woolpert hydrographers, positioned across multiple time zones, will remotely conduct hydrographic surveys around the clock. Survey data is uploaded to a cloud server via Starlink satellite communications, where it is ingested into Woolpert’s Automatic Survey Production Environment (ASPEN) and made ready for further postprocessing by Woolpert’s hydrographic processing team.

In an expansion of the concept, NOAA just awarded Chance a $21.6 million contract for up to eight Chance LR30 platforms, equipping NOAA with a fleet of long-endurance USVs purpose-built for hydrographic and fisheries surveys.

Coupled with what the USCG is doing with Saildrones, this is all some very good vetting of programs with some serious 21st-century military applications, without which Big Navy can surely piggyback off of.

I hope people are paying attention.

Chance LR30 Uncrewed Surface Vessel

Chance LR30 Uncrewed Surface Vessel

Meanwhile, CTF 66 and CTF 68 are operating robotic and autonomous systems alongside our Norwegian Allies to strengthen our collective ability to conduct operations in the Arctic. (Photos by MC1 Brandie Nuzzi).

RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft and Lightfish Unmanned Surface Vessel, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operate in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Cla

RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft and Lightfish Unmanned Surface Vessel, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operate in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Cla

RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operates in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brandie Nuzzi)

RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron Three (USVRON 3) Division 32, Black Sea and technical support personnel pose for a photo during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1

UAVs and USVs you may not know the U.S. operates

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Uncrewed systems employed by assorted American maritime agencies almost never get any love, from Big Navy on down.

Almost.

It should be of interest these two recent videos from NOAA and the USCG on, respectively, the 25-foot-long DriX uncrewed surface vehicle, and the latter’s Operation Demonstration Coquí which has been working with 26 RDC, a RIB-based USV (including the use of a hand-launched RQ-20B Puma UAV), as well as a neat little VTOL UAV, the FVR-90.

 

The Coast Guard’s Short Range Unmanned Aerial System (SR-UAS) program, founded in 2023, has qualified nearly 500 Coast Guard pilots from various backgrounds and rates who have supported over 75 units. The USCG fields two small in-house drones– the Skydio X2D and the Parrot Anafi– while contractors have been shipping out with Insitu ScanEagles on blue water cutter deployments.

Coast Guard Cutter James, returning from an East Pac deployment, seen at Port Everglades, Florida, Oct 26, 2023, including four Scan Eagle UAV contractors and one of their drones. 231026-G-FH885-1002

Pumas have been seen as well.

Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) in the Philippine Sea, lobbing a RQ-20B Puma UAS drone from the deck of the 158-foot Sentinel class color while on CTF75 taskings

Kevin Vollbrecht, an engineering development technician with Aerovironment Inc., launches a PUMA AE unmanned aircraft system from the flight deck of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star during Operation Deep Freeze 2016 in the Southern Ocean Jan. 3, 2016. The UAS will play a role in selecting the optimal route through pack ice as the cutter transits to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Grant DeVuyst)

As for NOAA, they also have Saildrones– which capture amazing footage inside hurricanes, and swimming Ocean Gliders, which don’t get enough attention.