Launch and recovery systems for unmannedvehicles onboard ships. A study and initialconcepts.

Abstract: This master’s thesis paper is an exploratory study along with conceptual design of launch and recovery systems(LARS) for unmanned vehicles and RHIB:s, which has been conducted for ThyssenKrupp Marine System AB inKarlskrona, Sweden. Two concepts have been developed, one for aerial vehicles (UAV:s) and one for surfaceand underwater vehicles (USV, RHIB and UUV). The goal when designing the two LARS has been to meet thegrowing demand within the world navies for greater off-board capabilities. The two concepts have been designedto be an integrated solutions on a 90 m long naval ship and based on technology that will be proven in year2015-2020. To meet the goal of using technology that will be proven in year 2015-2020, existing and futurepossible solutions has been evaluated. From the evaluations one technique for each concept was chosen forfurther development.In the development of a LARS for aerial vehicles only fixed wing UAV:s have been considered. The conceptwas made for a reference UAV based on the UAV Shadow 200B, which has a weight of 170 kg. The conceptthat was developed is a parasail lifter that can both launch and recover the reference UAV effectively. In thedevelopment of a system for surface and underwater vehicles only vehicle lengths in the span 1-12 m have beenconsidered. The concept that has been developed is a stern ramp that uses a sled to launch and recover all threevehicle types. The two concepts that has been developed are in an early design state and the papers results shouldtherefore be seen as an estimation of what each system are capable of performing.