The future underwater warfare: nuclear submarines and maritime drones.

Translated by Alessandra Fumagalli 

The underwater warfare is one of the four milestones of the underwater sea conflict, together with the anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and mine countermeasures. It involves mainly nuclear submarines, equipped with missiles or nuclear weapons and different detection technologies, to hit enemies, ships, or land objectives. However, the submarines are not only attack equipment, but they are also used for detection missions, special forces infiltrations, task force protection or to avoid enemies to control the strategic areas of the sea. 

The first use of the submarines is due to the German forces that during the First World War used their U-Boot against the Allies' ships. The Allies, aware of the threat, started a modernization of their submarines, making them faster and giving them advanced detecting technologies and weapons. In that conflict, the submarines also played a humanitarian and special role, because they saved pilots, who died in the Pacific due to the Japanese armies. 

Nowadays, nuclear propulsion allows submarines to stay submerged for a long time and the developments in the weapons have brought extremely precise and long range missiles and torpedoes, in order to hit sea objectives, both submarines and land. Ballistic missile submarines are a fundamental component of the nuclear triad, together with strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles. But they are not the only ones: autonomous systems (UUV and USV) are playing a fundamental role in the sea operations. 

UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicles) are autonomous and can be operated in lots of missions, from the gathering of information to the mine hunting and the scientific exploration, giving a detailed map of the sea bottom. USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicles) work, on the contrary, on the surface and can be operated in warfare missions, surveillance and recognition with the staff on board.

REPMUS 2024: Innovation in the maritime warfare

A crucial event for the development of these technologies was NATO REPMUS 2024 (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems), held in Portugal. The test involves military forces of NATO's member countries and lots of hi-tech companies, among which the Fincantieri, supported by the Italy Support and Experimentation Sea Center of the Italian Navy. 

The aim of the test was testing autonomous systems in real environments, and the technical solutions, in order to integrate and make interoperable the NATO’s Navy’s fighting systems. An example is the command and control system, SADOC4, which allows the integration of national and NATO unmanned systems, guaranteeing an ongoing tactical information exchange. 

One of the key elements was the Unmanned Management System (UMS), updated and aiming at ensuring the interoperability within other systems, through other protocols like the NATO’s STANAG 4817 and the APP-11 for sea warfare. UMS is a management platform for autonomous systems, like drones and submarines, able to monitor and coordinate more systems together, assuring efficiency and security. 

Another unmanned system is SAND, Surface Advanced Naval Drone, a multirole system, used in research, rescue and environmental monitor missions. SAND, which has been used since 2019, was updated with an advanced  Launch & Recovery (LARS) system, aiming at optimizing the use of autonomous submarines, reinforcing the ability to contrast the mines, anti-submarine warfare operations and defense of critical underwater infrastructure.

In conclusion, underwater warfare plays a relevant strategic role. Thanks to the nuclear submarines, which are more sophisticated, and the use of autonomous systems, maritime technology has made several steps forward, permitting more efficient, precise and safer operations. Tests like REPMUS 2024 show NATO’s engagement to develop innovative and integrated solutions, able to face future challenges, in a multi-control world, where autonomous and human technologies work together. Cooperation among military forces and leading companies, like Fincantieri, is fundamental to guarantee the progress of unmanned technologies, reinforcing global maritime security and the ability to face more complex challenges.  

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