A sip of fuel sometimes means more than a sip of fuel
A boat with no crew recently pulled in behind a Navy ship off Virginia and filled its tank, repeating the evolution over 100 times, ultimately transferring about 400 gallons of fuel.
NAWCWD’s Blue Water Instrumentation team ran Sealartec’s robotic refueling rig– dubbed the Towable Capture and Connection Device (TCCD)– a refueling sled/cradle towed behind the training support vessel USNS Vindicator (TSV 5).
An operator steered the MARTAC’s 38-foot T38 Devil Ray unmanned surface vessel into it. Fuel flowed, and the boat pulled away.
The T38 unmanned surface vessel, left, approaches a towable capture and connection device, center, towed by USNS Vindicator (TSV 5), right, during an Aug. 11 refueling demonstration off Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division’s Blue Water Instrumentation program led the demonstration, part of an effort to keep unmanned vessels on station longer during long-range weapons testing. (Courtesy photo)
The T38 unmanned surface vessel, right, closes on a towable capture and connection device, left, under tow during an Aug. 11 refueling demonstration off Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division’s Blue Water Instrumentation program led the demonstration, part of an effort to keep unmanned vessels on station longer during long-range weapons testing. (Courtesy photo)
A refueling probe on the T38 unmanned surface vessel, left, prepares to mate with a towable capture and connection device, right, during an Aug. 11 refueling demonstration off Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division’s Blue Water Instrumentation program led the demonstration, part of an effort to keep unmanned vessels on station longer during long-range weapons testing. (Courtesy photo)
If you did something like this 25 years ago, it would seem like magic.
Today, it is almost anticlimactic.
The next step will be drones refueling drones, keeping autonomous fleets quietly underway for years at a time. No headlines about ships at sea for 250 days…because there won’t be a crew to complain.
You can expect more of the same on a much larger scale moving forward. Everywhere.