DARPA is moving into Phase 2 of the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, which seeks to build and demonstrate a revolutionary new medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) that can go to sea and perform missions with unprecedented reliability and availability while carrying a significant payload. The agency selected Serco Inc.’s design to move forward at the conclusion of Phase 1.
NOMARS took a clean-sheet approach to ship design, holding firmly to the requirement that there will never be a human onboard the vessel while it is at sea – including during underway replenishment (UNREP) events. By eliminating all constraints and requirements associated with humans, NOMARS opened up the design space to novel ship configurations and capabilities that could never be considered for crewed vessels.
NOMARS is also pushing the boundaries on ship reliability. Because there is no crew onboard to perform maintenance, NOMARS required new approaches for power generation, propulsion, machinery line-up, and control schemes to ensure continuous functionality throughout a long mission in all weather, temperature, and sea states.