DARPA's long-endurance USV prototype hits the water

Serco recently floated out a new medium-sized unmanned surface vehicle (USV) being developed in fulfilment of an order by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Defiant will then undergo a series of trials before eventually being handed over to the US Navy as part of DARPA's No Manning Required, Ship (NOMARS) program.

NOMARS, which is run by DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (TTO), has been tasked to design, build, and field test an unmanned surface ship that can operate autonomously for long durations at sea with no human interventions or underway maintenance.

NOMARS is a two-phased programme, with this first phase centered on trade space exploration, development of a clean-sheet concept design, and maturation of concept into a preliminary design.

Upon completion, Defiant will measure 180 feet (50 metres) long and weigh 240 tonnes. It was designed from the outset to have no provisions for embarked crews, thus making the vessel a purely unmanned platform.