Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is moving into Phase 2 of the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, which seeks to build a revolutionary new medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) that can perform missions with unprecedented reliability.
DARPA held the requirement that there will never be a human on board the vessel while it is at sea firmly, including during underway replenishment (UNREP) events, by eliminating all constraints and requirements associated with humans,
Because there is no crew on board to perform maintenance, NOMARS required new approaches for power generation, propulsion, machinery line-up, and control schemes to ensure continuous functionality throughout a long mission in all weather, temperature, and sea states.
