NAIAD integrates UxV into the Navy’s naval combat system

We participated in the multinational exercise Dynamic Messenger 22 from I WILL TAKE in which a multitude of unmanned systems in the naval environment. And we could verify how the Spanish Navy integrated aboard his ship Bold the four different unmanned systems it is operating.

The Spanish Navy participated for the first time last year in the multinational exercise on the integration of unmanned systems in the naval environment REPMUS 21. Now it has participated again together with a group of Spanish companies and also in Dynamic Messenger 22 with the four companies with which he participated last year. On this occasion, as anticipated at the time, the Audacious Maritime Action Vessel (BAM) was sent in which four different unmanned systems were integrated thanks to the NAIAD system of Navantia, a milestone within the reach of very few marine as the commander of the Audaz, Lieutenant Commander Marcos de Sousa Fuchs acknowledged during our visit to the ship.

NAIAD console on the ground during the exercise (author)

After the first tests carried out in Cartagena at the end of last June, where Navantia Systems successfully performed the integration of unmanned vehicles into the Combat System (SCOMBA) of BAM Audaz, is now participating in NATO’s Dynamic Messenger exercises in Portugal. The Cartagena tests achieved this integration in a real environment for the first time, thanks to the NAIAD system (per No.aval Aadvanced Iintegrated Aautonomous vehicles D.fence system), developed by Navantia.

At that moment, the Spanish Navy expressed its satisfaction with the results obtained, qualifying the event as a historic milestone, as it was the first time that the integration of unmanned vehicles was carried out on one of its ships.

Dynamic Messenger 22

The Dynamic Messenger exercises (DYMS22), organized by NATO, focus on the goal of test operational concepts and doctrines for the use of unmanned vehicles in naval tactical operations. After the good results obtained in the REPMUS 2021 exercises with the Spanish participation, the Spanish Navy participates with the BAM Audaz, in whose Combat System three unmanned surface vehicles have been integrated through NAIAD (Vendaval de Navantia, Kaluga of Utek and SeaDrone 23 of SeaDrone) and an unmanned aerial vehicle (M5D-Airfox by Marine Instrument).

Dynamic Messenger exercises are demonstrating that Navantia’s SCOMBA consoles are able to monitor data and video received from vehicles and send missions to the USV Galeproperty of Port Authority of Ceuta and developed by Navantia.

NAIAD scheme (Navantia)

Likewise, communicationsbetween the NAIAD on board the BAM Audaz and the NAIAD on land, installed for these tests at the Troia Naval Support Point (PAN), near Setbal. Communication between the two systems allows transmit the information of the unmanned vehicles available on board the Audaz ship to the ground control center.

Also, the USV Gale, can be used as relay between the two NAIADs, thus allowing for a wider range of communications. Vendaval remote control tests will also be carried out by both the NAIAD on board and the NAIAD on land.

The USV Ventaval

The USV Vendaval, the first unmanned surface vehicle marketed and operational in real missions in Spain and developed by Navantia for the Port Authority of Ceuta, is a ship capable of carrying out a multitude of missions in complete autonomy (rescue at sea , environmental protection, safety, port work, etc.).

It has the greatest technological advances in this type of ship and in which Navantia has poured its experience gained in the development of high-tech systems that have been integrated for years in the construction of its ships and in R&D projects, such as the SICP (Integrated System control platform), CATIZ Combat Management System, CITIUS (Navantia’s first unmanned ship), COAS (collision avoidance system), DP (dynamic positioning), etc.

CIC console with unmanned systems (author)

The NAIAD (No.AVAL AADVANCED IINTEGRATED AAUTONOMOUS D.EFENCE system)

It is a command and control system developed by Navantia for the tactical integration of unmanned vehicles (UxV). It is a flexible and open system that can integrate any unmanned vehicle and can also be integrated into any Combat Management System (CMS) or Command and Control (C2) for mission execution with the UxV.

At the on-board CMS consoles, the ship’s crew monitors the data and videos received from the UxV integrated by the NAIAD system. From the CMS consoles, the ship’s crew can send missions, through the NAIAD system, to the UxVs integrated into the system. The NAIAD system can offer two control posts, one on board a mother ship and one in a ground control center, currently with the capability to carry out devolve (transfer) between the two for the control of USV Vendaval.

The NAIAD was integrated into the Spanish Navy’s CMS “SCOMBA” and was tested in a real-world environment aboard the Spanish Navy’s BAM “Audaz” with several unmanned vehicles, including Navantia’s family of USV “Viento”, a which the USV Vendaval belongs to. (Jos M Navarro Garca)

–

Copyright © Grupo Edefa SA The total or partial reproduction of this article is prohibited without the prior authorization and authorization of the publishing house.