Unmanned undersea weapon deployment structure with cylindrical payload deployment system

An unmanned undersea vehicle system comprising:

• a remote-controlled, unmanned undersea vehicle having (i) a plurality of weapon deployment devices symmetrically disposed about a central core of a shape axisymmetrically formed about the vehicle longitudinal axis, each weapon deployment device having a weapon canister for carrying a weapon, the weapon deployment devices being pivotable between a retracted, non-deployed position and an extended, deployed position, and configured so that, when in their extended, deployed positions the respective weapon canisters are positioned beyond the vehicle's diameter, each weapon canister having a sidewall conforming to the shape of the weapon contained therein, and end caps at opposing ends, the end caps being discharged when the weapon contained therein is fired to allow seawater to enter, and (ii) control means for controlling pivoting of the weapon deployment devices from the retracted, non-deployed position and the extended, deployed position to facilitate firing of at least one weapon, and further controlling pivoting of the weapon deployment devices from the extended, deployed position to the retracted, non-deployed position after firing, the weapon canisters from which weapons have been fired retaining seawater so as to provide for a generally axi-symmetrical distribution of mass as among those weapon deployment devices whose weapons have been fired and those weapon deployment devices whose weapons have not been fired;
• a mother vehicle for generating command information for controlling the control means and for receiving unmanned undersea vehicle status information from said unmanned undersea vehicle and processing it for use in generating the command information;
• and
• a communication link for interconnecting said unmanned undersea vehicle and said mother vehicle to facilitate transfer of command information from said mother vehicle to said unmanned undersea vehicle and to further facilitate transfer of unmanned undersea vehicle status information from said unmanned undersea vehicle to said mother vehicle.