The design, which was officially unveiled at the Maritime Capability Conference at DSEI 2019 on Monday, is designed to operate unmanned, but with the intention of operating as a lean-manned vessel with 15 crew in the first instance. Successful and continued operation of TX Ship will give forward thinking navies a clear route to gain confidence in, and to move towards, fully unmanned autonomous naval operations in a cost-effective manner.
TX Ship is a fully sensorised multi-role trimaran, capable of operating at reach, alone or as part of a task group. The ship possesses an unusual high capacity, fully-automated mission bay capable of hosting and deploying a large number, and multiple types, of manned or unmanned mission packages. The stern access and moon pool features enable flexible and covert deployment of a wide range of current and future unmanned aerial, surface and subsurface vessels. At a length of 70m and 600 tonne displacement, TX Ship has a top speed of 30 knots, a design cruise speed of 18 knots, a range of 6000nm and an endurance of 20 days (manned) or 40 days (unmanned).
The vessel has been designed to be a multi-role platform, including Mine Countermeasures (MCM), Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR), strategic Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and patrol.
TX Ship capabilities:
- Fully autonomous
- Options for semi-autonomous or man in the loop ops
- Mothership for offboard assets
- Optionally manned or unmanned
- Operates over the horizon
