Piraya (Swedish for ''

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...

'') is the name of an

unmanned surface vehicle Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), also known as unmanned surface vessels, autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) in some cases, uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), or colloquially drone ships, or robot boats, are boats or ships that operate on the ...

project under development by the Swedish shipyard company

Kockums AB Saab Kockums AB is a shipyard headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, owned by the Swedish defence company Saab Group. Saab Kockums AB is further operational in Muskö, Docksta, and Karlskrona. While having a history of civil vessel construction, Kock ...

in collaboration with the Swedish military. The project is a small size boat with a 20

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

engine that runs without a human crew. The biggest difference between the Piraya and other unmanned surface vehicles is that several Pirayas can be operated at the same time by a single person. The vehicle has stealth capability just like the larger

Visby class corvette The ''Visby'' class is a warship in use by the Swedish Navy. It is the latest class of corvette adopted by the navy after the and corvettes. Its design emphasizes low visibility radar cross-section and Infrared homing, infrared signature, an ...

s. The vessels will be equipped with infrared sensors and hydrophones. By October 2009, 3 boats were in testing with one more on the way.

Similar ships

Protector USV The Protector unmanned surface vehicle (USV) was developed by the Israeli Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in response to emerging terrorist threats against maritime assets such as the USS Cole bombing, USS ''Cole'' bombing, and is the first operat ...

Spartan Scout Spartan Scout, an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration, is a crewless surface watercraft, also known as an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) developed by the United States in 2001, and first demonstrated in late 2003. The craft, a rigid hull in ...

References

Unmanned surface vehicles Naval ships of Sweden {{mil-vehicle-stub