Remote-controlled weapons systems provide the capability to engage close-in air and surface threats at sea. In today’s changing naval operational environment, such systems are increasingly being required to counter unmanned air and surface systems.
A remote weapons station/remote controlled weapons station (RWS/RCWS) is a good example of how naval weapons systems can adapt to counter emerging technological and operational threats.
Small, mobile, fast-moving craft targeting surface ships operating in confined, shallow waters are a primary – and enduring – threat to Western navies’ surface forces. Such asymmetric threats can be posed by a single craft, for example with a non-state actor conducting a maritime terrorism attack by deploying a rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB)-based waterborne improvised explosive device (WBIED). It can also come in the form of groups of craft, perhaps from a state adversary conducting swarm attacks.
In recent years, a core part of the operational requirement for a naval RWS/RCWS capability for Western navies has been to counter the threat posed by a state adversary’s fast attack craft (FAC) and swarm attacks when operating in confined waters like the Gulf.
Today, the envelope of swarm attack risk has widened to include the use of unmanned vehicles, such as unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) impacting in the surface domain and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) impacting in the air and surface domains.
In February 2023, just prior to the Naval Defence and Maritime Security Exhibition (NAVDEX) held in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) , Israeli advanced defence systems company Rafael released footage on social media of its Typhoon RCWS system fitted to a Shaldag MkV fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) defeating attacks from UAVs at sea, demonstrating a counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) capability. The footage of the testing, which was conducted over the previous month, highlighted the dynamic tracking, automatic target recognition, and automatic fire correction capabilities Typhoon uses in targeting UAVs.
In a statement, Rafael said its Typhoon Mk 30-C and Typhoon 25mm RCWS systems provide the capability to counter marine, shore-based, and airborne threats, the latter including C-UAS. In addition, it confirmed both the award of a contract to supply the Typhoon Mk 30-C to an unnamed Asian navy, and the fitting of Typhoon RCWS systems to the Philippine Navy’s Shaldag MkV FIACs.
Underlining the importance of key enablers in generating effective RCWS capability, the company’s statement also pointed to the need for “a diverse mix of synchronised smart multi-spectral sensors, weapons, and intelligent effectors that translate to very high hit accuracies”.
RWS/RCWS systems are based around a range of different gun barrel calibres including 7.62mm, 12.7mm, 20mm, 30mm, or 40mm. The different calibres can bring a different rate and weight of fire.
The different calibres also provide a broader range of defensive capabilities for a warship. The various calibres “will increase a warship’s capacity to conduct self defence, to counter mine threats, and to neutralise targets [threats] posed from smaller vessels and others at closer range, from open sea to harbour defence,” Hans Jorn Kongelf, a vice president (VP) at Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, told Armada International.
For Rafael, its RCWS concept is based around the use of small- to medium-calibre guns to deliver ship perimeter protection, with high levels of stabilisation and weapon aim designed to ensure high hit probability. Here, the company notes the requirement to deliver this capability to counter “multiple small and fast manoeuvring targets such as in swarm attack scenarios, as well as air targets such as UAVs and drones”.
The medium-calibre Typhoon Mk 30-C, built around the Mk44 Bushmaster gun, is designed specifically to deal with asymmetric threats on the surface and in the air, according to Rafael, with the company noting it as a key part of its offering to build multi-layered defence capability against asymmetric threats. In particular, Typhoon Mk30-C includes next-generation C-UAS tracking algorithms, an electro-optical (EO) fire director, and a 3D fire control system. The latter two capabilities support a 24/7, all-weather surveillance and engagement capability.
Typhoon is in service with 16 navies globally, and is installed in vessels ranging in size from patrol boats to aircraft carriers. Rafael highlighted too that Typhoon can operate as a standalone system or be integrated into the ship’s combat management system (CMS). The Typhoon RCWS console can be located in the ship’s operations room/combat information centre (CIC), on the bridge, or in other protected areas onboard.
Wider Fit
The importance of high-level RWS/RCWS capability in current naval operations is underlined by the extent of naval requirements for such capability, and by the number of companies that are producing highly capable RWS/RCWS systems.
The design of RWS/RCWS capabilities that can be fitted across a range of platforms increases navies’ capacities to conduct naval force protection of individual ships, task groups, or harbours and shore facilities, and to increase capacity to protect critical national assets such as exclusive economic zones, territorial waters, or critical national infrastructure at sea (including oil and gas platforms or windfarm sites).
Writing in Asian Military Review in 2022, Tim Fish summarised some of the benefits that RWS/RCWS systems offer compared to crewed weapon stations. These benefits include the capacity to be used more efficiently and effectively when responding to the provision of supplemental situation awareness and targeting information, and reducing crewing requirements (with a single operator controlling the system from a console, as opposed to several crew conducting loading, observing, and operating tasks).
The diversity in different companies’ RWS/RCWS capabilities provides different options for navies.
Norwegian company Kongsberg’s Protector RS4 Naval RWS system, for example, brings a focus on effectiveness and sustainability in system ammunition for the small- or medium-calibre weapons that are used, not only through hit accuracy but also through reduced salvo sizes. The accuracy itself reduces the number of rounds spent, Kongelf told Armada International.
Kongelf added that automatic systems increase the ship’s capacity to scan its surroundings, thus increasing survivability. He noted too that ships can conduct such scanning with less sailors required to operate the systems.
According to Kongsberg, Protector brings stabilised precision optics and lasers to enable improved accuracy in target observation, detection, and engagement. Kongsberg emphasises also that multiple Protector weapon stations can be networked together, operated through the CIC or the bridge.
The Protector RS4 Naval system is modular, as it is built around a baseline design and technology blueprint used in the company’s Protector RSW system, which is designed for both land and maritime operations.
Belgium-based weapons system manufacturer FN Herstal is another company making a prominent contribution to the international RWS/RCWS system portfolio.
FN Herstal’s Sea deFNder RWS is designed to counter emerging asymmetric threats, especially from USVs. Reflecting the trend for using a baseline design with modularity that can be adapted to both the land and maritime domains, the deFNder Medium land-based system provides the basis for Sea deFNder’s design and capability development. Sea deFNder itself brings particular focus on integrating EO capability and standardised open architecture to enable effective CMS integration. Such open architecture and CMS integration means several Sea deFNder systems can be controlled simultaneously, potentially providing a collaborative operational engagement capability.
The company highlights the fact that, in terms of sensors, Sea deFNder provides 24/7 operations through a day/night electro-optical/infra-red (EO/IR) camera and an image stabilization capability. In weapons terms, Sea deFNder can accommodate FN Herstal machine gun barrels up to .50cal, including the FN M3R that brings a high rate of fire at 1,100 rounds per minute.
In a prominent programme development, Sea deFNder has been downselected to provide the RWS capability for the Belgium/Netherlands (BE/NL) future mine-countermeasures (MCM) platform, with the 12 ships to be procured across the BE/NL programme to receive two RWS fits each. Ship deliveries are set to commence from 2024, with the first ship set to be handed over to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 2025.
One RWS system bringing something different in capability terms is Nexter’s Narwhal. The French company, working alongside Anglo-French company MBDA, has developed the capability to fit two MBDA Akeron MP podded guided missiles to the Narwhal RWS. The new concept for the capability fit expands the system’s firepower and wider operational effectiveness, effectively adding an anti-surface strike capability alongside Narwhal’s 20M621 20mm gun. This new version was unveiled at the Euronaval exhibition in Paris, France in October 2022. In a statement released at Euronaval, Nexter said that the Akeron fit underlined the modularity of the Narwhal RWS. In its own statement released at the show, MBDA said “A naval capability is being implemented on the Akeron MP missile to facilitate the acquisition of small targets and signatures from naval platforms … and provide these platforms with an enhanced self-defence capability in coastal environments against sea- or land-based asymmetric threats.” The fit seems to bring particular capability to strike smaller surface targets, possibly including USVs.
Discussing what Akeron MP adds to this capability package, an MBDA spokesperson told Armada International that the Akeron missile can enhance longer-range self-defence capability for patrol vessels and frigates in particular, when such platforms are operating in coastal environments and needing to counter sea- or land-based threats. The spokesperson underlined Akeron’s ability to strike moving targets at ranges beyond 4,000 metres: this, the spokesperson added, effectively can double the engagement envelope of RWS systems.
Narwhal is in service with six different navies, and can be fitted to vessels ranging in size from small patrol boats, to frigates, to amphibious ships, to aircraft carriers.
UK company MSI-Defence Systems produces the MSI-DS Seahawk DS family of RWS/RCWS systems. The Seahawk systems combine a gun mounting and EO fire control system, and are designed to counter multiple air and surface threats. In the latter case, the company states, there is a focus on countering swarming small boat attacks. The MSI-DS Seahawk REMOTE system is one of three variants in the family and, through the family’s modular design, brings capacity to fit different cannons with barrel calibre ranging from 25mm to 40mm. It is also designed to interface with various CMS and fire control capabilities.
In June 2023, Italian company Leonardo announced the arrival of an upgraded version of its Lionfish 30 naval remote-controlled turret, with the integration of the company’s electrically powered Lionfish 30 mm X-GUN. In a statement, Leonardo said “The 30’s compact and lightweight design allows for installation on small platforms, enabling protection from all types of asymmetric threat, including drones and helicopters, within complex scenarios with multiple targets, or multi-targets.” Operational capability in these contexts is enhanced by using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in system software, the company noted: these algorithms “perform contextual analysis and optimise engagement against multiple simultaneous threats”, the statement added. The new turret also carries an EO suite that enables 360 deg surveillance and tracking.
In its product documentation, Leonardo stated that the Lionfish family of systems “was designed to meet the ever-growing demand for light, multi-role solutions for patrol, protection, and defence of installations”.
Other features within Lionfish’s capabilities include a high rate of fire, long-range sensing, open architecture and modularity, and remote control conducted using a high-resolution console with a 17-inch touchscreen and two multi-function joysticks. In the product documentation, Leonardo noted that – depending on the sensor fitted to Lionfish – detection range can be up to 7.5 miles (12km), with target identification bracketed between 1.6 miles (2.7km) and 2 miles (3.3km).
Unmanned vs Unmanned
Leonardo announced also that Lionfish has already been successfully fitted in testing onboard several unmanned vessels.
Adding RCWS capability to USVs can enhance a navy’s presence and lethality, simply through increasing the numbers of sensors and effectors. In sum, it thus provides the ability to use unmanned platforms to counter unmanned platforms.
Several of the key RWS/RCWS system suppliers have already been working for some time with platform manufacturers to integrate their weapons stations onboard USVs. At the lower end of the warfighting task spectrum, some RCWS/USV combinations have already been tested in trials against swarming FIACs.
At the highest end of the warfighting task spectrum, navies like the US Navy (USN) are already talking about the potential future role of larger USVs in providing force protection for naval task groups. Speaking at the Sea-Air-Space Symposium in National Harbor, Maryland in April 2023, USN Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Michael Gilday said that developing offensive capability for larger USVs is a core future requirement for the USN. In this context, as opposed to operating beyond line of sight as forward sensing platforms, such USVs will deploy with carrier strike groups, amphibious ready groups, or surface action groups, CNO said.
By definition, USVs conducting offensive operations likely will be operating sensor capabilities autonomously and weapon capabilities remotely. The requirement to retain operator decision-making and control in the operational loop means that weapon operation from USVs will remain remote controlled, even if sensor operation becomes increasingly autonomous.
Kongelf underlined the importance of crewed/unmanned teaming in addressing the threats that naval ships face, including from unmanned threats such as UAS. For RWS/RCWS systems like Kongsberg’s Protector, “Their agile manoeuvrability … can be combined with different types of detection sensors and ammunition types to neutralize various UAS systems.” He also underlined the increasing importance of technologies like AI to enhance target detection and recognition.
Critical Enabler
A core enabler for any RWS/RCWS is an EO/IR fire control capability. The EO/IR capability, when integrated with the ship’s CMS, provides the ‘eyes and ears’ for the RWS. As noted above, the RWS systems generally carry their own EO/IR sensor.
Chess Dynamics manufactures the SeaEagle FCEO (Fire Control Electro Optical) MkI and MkII systems. The Chess SeaEagle systems can be the ‘eyes and ears’ for both crewed and unmanned gun systems, including (in the former case) the 5-inch gun that is fitted to the UK Royal Navy’s in-build Type 26 City-class frigates and (in the latter case) RWS/RCWS mounts.
EO/IR sensors are linked to a ship’s radar, and thus are typically cued onto a target. They provide: thermal or TV camera tracking of the target; identification; and bearing, elevation, and range. “So, we’re delivering the 3D co-ordinates constantly live to the fire-control system [within] the CMS,” Dr Mark Byfield, Chess Dynamic’s VP for Strategic Business Development, told Armada International during a media day hosted by the Cohort Group in London on 4 July 2023, as a precursor event for the 2023 Defence and Security Exhibition International (DSEI) event taking place in London in September.
SeaEagle integrates data such as ballistics, ammunition type, gun characteristics, and environmental conditions into the CMS, so that the CMS calculates the correct trajectory, angle, and ammunition flight time to engage and strike the target in the context of its speed and direction, Byfield explained. “We’re effectively telling the ship where to fire its gun if it wants to intercept that target.”
New-generation cameras that are being fitted to EO/IR systems allow targets to be identified and prosecuted at greater distance, Byfield added. “You’re enabling the crew to reliably fire at known targets further away from the ship …. The software is enabling you to come to a quicker decision on what it is you’re looking at, and therefore whether you’re going to fire,” he continued. “So, you’re gaining time to make a decision on whether to open fire.”
by Dr Lee Willett
