Singapore Navy Deploys Indigenous Unmanned Vessels for Patrols

The Republic of Singapore Navy has deployed its domestically developed unmanned surface vessels (USVs) on patrol missions along the Singapore Strait.

The maritime security USVs accompanied the crewed Independence-class littoral mission vessels starting in January, Singapore’s Ministry of Defence stated.

Aside from conducting patrols, the systems are tasked with investigating and interdicting suspicious vessels and remotely carrying out high-risk missions at sea.

This deployment comes after the autonomous vessels completed over a thousand hours of testing and will be subjected to further experimentation to expand capabilities.

Three USVs are already in service with the navy, with a fourth one to arrive later this year, Straits Times reported.

Singapore-Made Vessel

The USV was designed and developed by the country’s navy together with the Defence Science & Technology Agency and DSO National Laboratories, with the first unit delivered in 2023.

It is equipped with a searchlight, strobe light and siren, a long-range acoustics device, a navigation radar, and a global positioning system.

To disorient suspicious targets or suppress threats, the USV is armed with a 12.7-millimeter stabilized weapon system and a laser dazzler.

Among its main features is a domestically developed collision detection and collision avoidance algorithm within the vessel’s autonomous navigation systems, which underwent extensive testing and completed over 12 million kilometers (7.5 million miles) of simulated distance without any reported collisions.

The autonomous navigation system integrated the vessel’s perception and navigation sensors with typical maritime collision detection equipment to ensure that its automated decision-making process and behavior followed international regulations at sea.