And the pork rolls on

[unhappycamper]

GD gets contract for LCS boat-launch robot
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 23, 2008 17:05:49 EDT

The Navy’s littoral combat ships, already designed to be the most automated surface ships ever, could get yet another unmanned system — a boat-launching robot.

The Office of Naval Research has issued a contract to defense giant General Dynamics to develop a robotic system for launching and recovering small craft from an LCS, which will rely on unmanned sub-systems, including a small submersible and a pilot-less boat, to look for mines and submarines, according to an announcement Monday.

In a company announcement, General Dynamics said it was a good choice to design the Common Launch and Recovery System, as it’s called, because the company also designed the unmanned surface craft that LCS will use to hunt for submarines.

A spokesman for ONR said he could not immediately provide the value of the contract, and a representative from General Dynamics did not return a phone call seeking further information. Also unclear is when the first prototypes will be available or specifically how the system will work. It is unclear whether the boat-launching gear will be fully automatic or if it will launch and retrieve craft under the control of a human operator.


Article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/07/navy_lcs_robot_072308w/



uhc comment: Congress canceled the LCS program. I'm guessing $5,000,000,000+ is a bit much for a freakin destroyer. General Dynamics is trying to tweak out every buck before the whole system collapses.