The Persistent Anchorless Active Sonar Craft (PAASC) system is a unique approach to Naval ASW that achieves 90-day mission endurance carrying a state-of-the-art active sonar (DWADS) in a deep water operating area. The PAASC achieves this unparalleled endurance via an efficient balance between wave- and solar-energy-harvesting and fossil-fuel-based power generation and reduces the overall size, weight, and shipboard footprint of the system in comparison to a fossil-fuel only design.
Benefit: The PAASC System proposed herein will serve as a force multiplier to the SURTASS fleet, as well as other organic ASW systems. The PAASC system can be procured and operated at low cost. Indeed, when the total cost of ownership of a PAASC system is amortized over the duration of its mission, the cost per mission hours is low enough to justify expendable concepts of operations (i.e., the cost to maneuver a support ship to recover the vessel is similar to the cost of replacing the system). Given its low cost, the Navy will be able to afford greater numbers of PAASC systems, thereby increasing the total area, in multiple theatres, that can be covered at any given time. The PAASC system readily scales with the size of the threat, with minimal capital investment. Since it is operated from shore, the PAASC system will have no impact of ships manning. Finally, as an unmanned system, the PAASC can be deployed and operated without putting ships and crews in harms way. This allows the PAASC system to be employed with a more aggressive posture, executing its ASW mission in operating areas that the Navy might otherwise deem to be too provocative or risky. As with our existing Wave Glider/SHARC USV, he PAASC platform developed herein is readily adapted to serve a wide variety of missions in oil and gas, commercial fishers, maritime law enforcement, and academic research markets.
Keywords: Anti-Submarine Warfare, Unmanned surface vessel, Wave Glider, ASW, Persistent, USV, Active sonar, SHARC
