The Royal Navy has begun remote and autonomous operation trials of an unmanned rigid inflatable boat (RIB). The vessel was both remotely and autonomously piloted from experimentation ship XV Patrick Blackett while the pair sailed off the coast of Portsmouth.
During the week-long trials in the Solent, the RIB was operated in rough seas. The autonomous tests saw it pre-programmed to follow certain manoeuvres and directions while the remotely-piloted tests saw it controlled by a human operator using a console on board Patrick Blackett.
Although the RIB has been tested at sea abroad, this was the first time it was tested in UK home waters and through the waterways of Portsmouth Harbour, successfully navigating around ferries, other Royal Navy vessels, and private boats.
The trials were run by the Royal Navy’s autonomous experts NavyX, who have previously trialled the RIB in Portugal with NATO partners at Exercise Repmus. The navy said conditions in the Solent showed how the uncrewed rib can operate like its crewed counterpart in rough waters and all conditions.
With cameras and sensors on board, the RIB fed back a live camera feed to control units and computers on Patrick Blackett for later analysis. Other sensors and weapons could be added to further enhance its use as a vessel for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations with data fed back in real-time.
Currently, the RIB can be controlled at short range from Patrick Blackett, but sensors on a drone flown from the ship could extend that range.