Tri-Service
World's Largest Unmanned Drone Ship Ready For Sea-Trials
The U.S. Department of Defense has instructed DARPA to create submarine hunting, artificially intelligent, robot vessels, and the Pentagon's military technology agency has obliged.
The 140-ton prototype, costing a modest £10,000 - £15,000 per day to operate, will be test-launched in April this year.
The 'Sea Hunter' will be completely autonomous, with DARPA explaining in the programme goals that the submarine hunter will "robustly track quiet diesel electric submarines".
The Deputy Director of DARPA, Steve Walker told reporters to:
“Imagine an unmanned surface vessel following all the laws of the sea on its own and operating with manned surface and unmanned underwater vehicles,”
He explained that “We think the real cost savings will be in operating this vessel at sea compared to how we operate vessels today.”
During the mission, the drone is expected to sail for thousands of miles while adhering to appropriate maritime laws:
"We're thinking about missions like countermine missions," Walker said, "logistics resupply, potentially."
Current plans are not to replace conventional warships, rather to add to existing naval capabilities by designing unmanned ships to have a supporting capacity.
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