To ‘what is this?’ FishMonster’s Facebook video, collected by HI Sutton on her Covert Shores site, shows a curious vehicle seen in Key West Florida last week. Practically the only part of it on the water is a mast that supports a set of antennas. The vehicle is almost certainly a Wave Glider made by the American company Liquid Robotics (now owned by Boeing.
A SHARC seen in Florida?
At first, the object looked like debris, but it moves under its own power. The Wave Glider harnesses natural energy to power missions that last for weeks, months, or years without refueling. On the surface is a ‘float’ like a 10-foot long surfboard covered in solar cells that powers its electronics. This is connected via a strap to a ‘sub’ underwater unit 30 feet below. As the waves move the surfboard up and down, the articulated sub turns up and down in forward motion (video showing the action here). The typical speed is only 1.3 knots, but Wave Glider can continue indefinitely; in 2013, one made an epic 8,000-mile journey, over the course of a year, across the Pacific.
Liquid Robotics Wave Glider displays underwater ‘submarine’ and surface ‘float’
Although they have been used for scientific research, their long resistance and low profile make Wave Gliders ideal for gathering military intelligence, which is why Boeing bought Liquid Robotics from manufacturers in 2016. The US Navy. He has been working with Wave Gliders for many years, showing interest in their potential to hunt submarines. A Wave Glider can prowl for long periods, towing an underwater sonar array and communicating and contacting to steer planes or ships toward a target. A fleet of inexpensive wave gliders could slowly sweep across an area of interest, covering a much wider area than a few expensive manned ships.
The Navy Subfighter Wave Glider is known as Sensor Hosting Autonomous Research Craft, or SHARC. In 2011, the Navy began equipping its experimental SHARC gliders with the ‘Towed Array Integrated “L” (TAIL), a passive towed acoustic array. This is a set of specialized sensitive hydrophones that take advantage of silent glider propulsion to pick up distant marine engines. (It also gives the acronym SHARC TAIL.)
Since then, the Navy Wave Glider plans have become more ambitious. Current R&D budget documents show spending of $ 6 million a year in 2019 and 2020, doubling in 2021 and ending with project completion in 2022. SHARC is now part of a broader effort to use Autonomous unmanned systems to collect information. SHARC’s particular role is:
“Provide the fleet with a low cost asymmetric advantage in support of multiple classified missions. This includes autonomous and persistent situational awareness and submarine early warning or related underwater activity in potential support of TASWO / TRAPS [i.e. Anti-Submarine operations] as well as wide area, clandestine deployment of capabilities that enhance battlefield intelligence readiness (IPB) and attack missions. “(My emphasis)
Acoustically silent and with low visual and radar signature, Wave Gliders are stealthy compared to surface ships. Unlike submarines, they continually send data to remote operators.
Current plans require a fleet of 20 Navy SHARCSs to carry out a large-scale demonstration mission in 2021, working together as a cooperative swarm to collect information. Exactly what information is classified. The draft budget plan mentions “classified payloads that perform critical Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions with simultaneous broadband data links for signal and image data.” They need all those antennas, but they may be doing much more.
However, the United States is not the only one with this technology. In 2016, I noticed that an almost identical copy of the Wave Glider called Fugu was being tested by the Russian Navy. So while it’s likely to be one of ours, the device seen 15 miles from Key West could be one of yours. It would not be the first time that unmanned vessels were used to spy.
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