Patent ID: 8096254

Claim:
An unmanned vehicle launch and recovery system comprising: one or more unmanned vehicles; a RHIB-type surface vessel having port and starboard sides and an aft deck portion for transporting, launching and recovering the unmanned vehicles, the surface vessel including an I-beam support assembly mounted laterally across the aft deck portion of the surface vessel, the I-beam assembly including a pair of spaced apart, generally parallel I-beam support members for providing structural foundation; a movable trolley assembly mounted on the I-beam assembly, the trolley assembly including a pair of trolleys, each trolley mounted on and movable laterally along a respective I-beam between the port and starboard sides of the surface vessel, the pair of trolleys forming a laterally movable trolley axis; a cradle-type assembly including a pair of cradles each mounted lengthwise along either respective side of the surface vessel for supporting a respective unmanned vehicle; a pivotable A-frame hoist assembly having a base and including a vehicle recovery basket, the base of the A-frame attached lengthwise across the trolley assembly so that the A-frame is laterally moved when the trolley assembly is moved laterally toward a selected port or starboard side of the surface vessel to allow the A-frame to be controllably movable between the port and starboard sides of the vessel and controllably pivotable about the trolley axis for selective positioning over a selected one of the cradles; the A-frame hoist assembly including a winch mechanism for lifting a selected unmanned vehicle from the selected cradle assembly to the vehicle recovery basket, the A-frame then being laterally movable further toward the selected port or starboard side of the vessel to allow clearance of the lifted unmanned vehicle over the respective side of the surface vessel, so that lowering of the selected unmanned vehicle by the winch mechanism over the selected side of the surface vessel to the surface allows for launching of the unmanned vehicle.