US Navy Tests Unmanned Sail Boat Off Jordan Coast, Aims To Keep An Eye On Maritime Threats

The U.S. Navy has tested an unmanned wind and solar-powered sailboat in the Red Sea off the Jordan coast. This is part of an initiative to integrate new unmanned systems and artificial intelligence into the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet operations.

The Saildrone Explorer USV was launched into the waters from the Royal Jordanian naval base in Aqaba Sunday as part of the demonstration exercise nicknamed Digital Horizon, reported The Drive.

This comes a month after both the nations declared the base would become a joint hub for Saildrone operations in the Red Sea. The U.S. Navy hopes that the drone sailboats could be a valuable new tool to help keep an eye out for maritime threats.

"These are exciting times for Task Force 59 as we team with the Royal Jordanian Navy to establish our hub for Red Sea operations in Aqaba and deploy some of our new maritime robotics," Navy Capt. Michael Brasseur, the task force's commander, said in a statement.

Task Force 59 was set up in September by the U.S. Navy's top command in the Middle East to manage the use of the service's unmanned platforms, including drones, surface vessels and underwater vehicles, in the region.

The Saildrone Explorer is a 23-foot-long, 16-foot-tall USV reliant on wind power for propulsion. The vessel houses a package of sensors powered through solar energy for building a shared picture of the surrounding seas.

Though the Explorer has an average speed of only three knots, its manufacturer, California-based Saildrone, claims they have an effectively unlimited range and can operate autonomously for at least a year, even through periods of extreme weather.

"Our Saildrones leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance maritime domain awareness, extending the digital horizon with a sustainable, zero-carbon solution," said Brasseur.

However, the Navy has not yet revealed what sensors or other systems are on the Explorer. However, the Drive report, quoting Saildrone's website, said the Explorer has electro-optical cameras with machine learning-enabled automatic target detection and several oceanographic sensors.

With its advanced technology and cost-effectiveness - Saildrone's products operational cost is as little as $2,500 per day - the USV can help the Navy's capabilities in the Gulf of Aqaba, which touches Israel to the north and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to the west, as well as Jordan to the East.

The Gulf of Aqaba is also a potential chokepoint as the threats in and around the Red Sea, including Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen and Iran itself, grow, the report added.