Meggitt claims world record for Hammerhead USV-T swarmex

Meggitt Training Systems Canada has conducted a swarm exercise involving 16 Hammerhead expendable unmanned surface vessel targets (USV-Ts) with the Canadian Navy off the country's Pacific coast. Intended to simulate the threat posed to naval surface combatants by multiple fast inshore attack craft (FIACs), the event was the "world's first large-scale 'swarmex' demonstration", the company said on 16 June.

Staged off Esquimalt in British Columbia on 18 May, it involved the simultaneous operation over seven hours of four columns of four Hammerhead USV-Ts controlled on a single radio frequency using Meggitt's Universal Target Control Station (UTCS).

The exercise took place about four weeks after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps demonstrated the capabilities of massed Boghammer craft and other FIACs during three days of war games, dubbed 'Great Prophet 5', in the Persian Gulf.

"Since the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, many navies have invested heavily in sensors and weapon systems to defend their vessels from such asymmetric attacks," the company said. "Until this swarmex demonstration, the tools did not exist to conduct live fire exercises to counter target swarms."

Hammerhead is based on a 5 m composite surface-effect hull manufactured by AF Theriault in Nova Scotia, fitted with a 3-litre inboard Mercury petrol engine rated at 135 hp and capable of operating at 35 kt in Sea State 3. Payload options include MDI (miss distance indication) scoring, video telemetry, radar augmentation and muzzle flash simulation.