Subcommittee Chair Urges COTS Use

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) is encouraging the U.S. Coast Guard to work with industry to identify the latest unmanned vehicles to improve maritime safety and security while saving money. In a recent Congressional Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation hearing, Hunter, the chairman of the subcommittee, shared that he has seen a commercially built autonomous surface vehicle that can facilitate sub-sea to surface to satellite communications.

“The Coast Guard should be the one who experiments with this type of technology, who puts it to use, who saves a lot of money doing it and [who] don’t have to go through any government contractors at all because it’s out there sitting waiting for you to buy it. You don’t have to necessarily know what to call it to know that it can save you lots of money, make you very efficient and more effective on the ocean,” Hunter said.

The congressman saw the demonstration of Wave Glider autonomous vehicles during a visit to Liquid Robotics, developers of the technology. The marine robots can remain at sea for months or even years at a time by tapping into the energy supplied by waves and the sun.