Mideast defense firms fine-tune unmanned surface vessels

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — While aerial unmanned systems were a major focus of the recent UMEX drone fair here, a handful of companies displayed naval variants.

Among them was Elbit Systems Emirates, the Israeli defense company’s branch in the United Arab Emirates, established in 2021. The business showed off a mock-up of its Seagull unmanned surface vessel. The system has been on the market for several years, and the company has sold it to an undisclosed Asia-Pacific navy in its anti-submarine warfare configuration under a contract worth $56 million.

Elbit Systems said it’s working on improvements for its Seagull USV amid tension in the Red Sea , according to a company official.

“We are primarily focused on making it bigger — up to 17-18 meters — more flexible, and increasing its endurance at sea from six to 10 days,” Alon Emir, a naval systems expert at Elbit Systems, told Defense News.

The Seagull took part in the 2022 Digital Horizon event to test underwater tech and enhance regional maritime awareness. The U.S. Navy’s Task Force 59 ran the exercise in Bahrain.

Emir believes the ongoing Red Sea shipping crisis, which has seen Houthi rebels in Yemen attack ships passing through the waterway, may be a catalyst for the USV market.

Hostilities began in November when the Iran-backed Houthi militant group launched a series of attacks on cargo ships and tankers navigating in the area, causing considerable disruptions to global shopping. In response, the United States and the United Kingdom have conducted airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

“Everybody is watching what is happening in the Red Sea . A lot of countries are currently troubled with issues surrounding attacks carried out by unmanned underwater vehicles, and want a good USV to detect possible threats,” Emir said.

The Emirati defense conglomerate Edge Group is also dipping its toes into the underwater sector. The company has primarily focused on airborne and ground-based autonomous capabilities.

Speaking to Defense News at the trade show, Faisal Al Bannai, who chairs Edge Group’s board of directors, said the company “100%” has plans in the unmanned maritime sector that it will reveal “very soon.”

Following the normalization of ties between the UAE and Israel in 2020, the countries deepened their defense partnership and particularly found common ground in a desire to counter Iranian naval threats.

In 2021, Edge Group signed an agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries to co-develop a USV, which they unveiled last February at the maritime security fair NAVDEX in the UAE. The craft was designed to carry out surveillance, reconnaissance and mine-detection missions.

USV vendors are pitching their systems’ cheaper costs in comparison to other expensive technologies that carry out similar missions.

“In comparing the Seagull to an anti-submarine warfare helicopter, for instance, you can probably buy five Seagulls for the price of a single helicopter that can be just as effective and multipurpose,” Emir said.

Edge’s chairman shared a similar perspective.

“Let’s say you have a cargo ship flowing through the Red Sea. Trying to put manned patrol boats that can escort it is an expensive exercise,” he said. “But if you have your USV that is unmanned, that possesses a weapon and ISR capability, when that other boat is coming in to threaten the cargo ship, the USV can deal with it very effectively and is less costly.”

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

阿联酋阿布扎比——尽管空中无人系统是最近在此举行的 UMEX 无人机展的主要焦点，但也有少数公司展示了海军版本。

其中就包括以色列国防公司埃尔比特系统阿联酋分公司（Elbit Systems Emirates），该公司于2021年在阿联酋成立。该公司展示了其“海鸥”（Seagull）无人水面舰艇的模型。该系统已上市数年，埃尔比特系统阿联酋分公司此前已向亚太地区某海军出售了一套反潜作战配置的“海鸥”系统，合同金额达5600万美元。

据该公司一位官员透露，埃尔比特系统公司表示，鉴于红海局势紧张，该公司正在对其海鸥无人水面艇进行改进。

“我们主要致力于将其尺寸增大到 17-18 米，使其更加灵活，并将其海上续航时间从 6 天增加到 10 天，”埃尔比特系统公司海军系统专家阿隆·埃米尔告诉《防务新闻》。

“海鸥”号潜艇参加了2022年“数字地平线”演习，旨在测试水下技术并提升区域海上态势感知能力。此次演习由美国海军第59特遣部队在巴林组织实施。

埃米尔认为，持续不断的红海航运危机（也门胡塞武装袭击过往船只）可能会成为无人水面艇市场的催化剂。

敌对行动始于去年11月，当时伊朗支持的胡塞武装对该地区航行的货船和油轮发动了一系列袭击，严重扰乱了全球贸易。作为回应，美国和英国对也门境内的胡塞武装目标进行了空袭。

“大家都在关注红海局势。许多国家目前都受到无人水下航行器袭击问题的困扰，因此需要性能优良的无人水面艇来探测潜在威胁，”埃米尔说道。

阿联酋国防集团Edge Group也开始涉足水下领域。该公司此前主要专注于空中和地面自主作战能力。

Edge Group 董事会主席 Faisal Al Bannai 在贸易展上接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，该公司“百分之百”有进军无人海上领域的计划，并将“很快”公布。

2020年阿联酋与以色列关系正常化后，两国深化了防务伙伴关系，尤其是在应对伊朗海军威胁方面找到了共同点。

2021年，Edge集团与以色列航空航天工业公司签署协议，共同开发一款无人水面艇（USV），并于去年2月在阿联酋举行的海事安全展NAVDEX上首次亮相。该艇设计用于执行监视、侦察和水雷探测任务。

与执行类似任务的其他昂贵技术相比，无人水面艇供应商正在大力宣传其系统的成本更低。

埃米尔说：“例如，如果将海鸥直升机与反潜作战直升机进行比较，那么购买一架同样有效且用途广泛的直升机的价格，可能可以买到五架海鸥直升机。”

Edge公司的董事长也持有类似的观点。

“假设有一艘货船在红海航行。派有人巡逻艇护航成本很高，”他说。“但如果你拥有一艘无人水面艇（USV），它配备武器和情报、监视与侦察（ISR）能力，当其他船只靠近并威胁货船时，这艘无人水面艇就能非常有效地应对，而且成本更低。”

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。