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