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Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), with its huge ocean Bluebottle (blue bottle) unmanned marine vehicle to stay at sea and operate at all times. 7 months old puts it to the test.
Bluebottle, Australian Faster The company has been developing since 2013. The Australian Navy received an order for 5 units this year and has already started using them in active duty. The second customer of the vehicle was New Zealand.
It obtains its energy from the sun, wind and waves.
With a length of only 6.8 meters and a weight of 800 kg, the boat uses its energy from sun, wind and wave It has a maximum speed of 6.5 knots and a cruising speed of 5 knots. Its most important feature is that it can operate almost unlimitedly without returning to land. In fact, the only requirement for returning from the sea to the base or port is to clean the mussel-like deposits that marine life has left on the vehicle.
The system, which has a total payload carrying capacity of 300 kg, can provide an average of 50 W energy to this payload, excluding propulsion and communication. The autonomous vehicle, which can avoid currents, can be controlled remotely by man if desired.
While communication is provided via mobile lines in areas close to the shore, it is provided via low-speed satellite connection in the open sea. Since the boat was built for the ocean, it has the ability to operate even in level 7 waves. Considering that the height of the sea waves at this level is 6-9 meters, it is quite successful. The boat sees its surroundings with radar, electro-optic and infrared sensors and can share the information it receives.
What are the energy sources of the vehicle?
The sail-style rigid part of the Bluebottle captures the wind and provides energy for propulsion with integrated solar panels on it. The hard sail, which also serves as a mast, closes on the hull in stormy weather and electric propeller propulsion is used.
Solar panels integrated on the deck always capture electricity and store it in batteries. The total power of the panels is 1500 Watt and the total capacity of the battery is 27 kWh.
The paddle-style part integrated into the rudder section provides thrust to the boat while waving as the vehicle rocks up and down. Even in the absence of sun and wind, the boat can reach a speed of 1.5 knots with the thrust it provides only from wave energy.
Moreover, the fact that it is completely silent when moving with sails or waves puts it in a different category. Its electric propeller converts the energy it obtains from the sun into propulsion. The system can be used for military purposes as well as for civilian purposes. This very small vehicle, which is left from ships or on land, can be taken back to the ship when desired.
Active passive sonar will be integrated
Another Australian company, Thales, is developing fiber optic active and passive sonar for this ship. It is certain that the boat will level up when this feature comes. With the addition of this system, it will have the ability to listen and detect enemy submarines. We can also do this listening work with listening buoys launched from airplanes or helicopters. However, this unmanned and relatively cheap system will provide a significant advantage by silently entering enemy territory and transferring information from that region.
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