We know about unmanned drone
aircraft in the skies, but how about drone subs patrolling the oceans?
The United States Department of
Defense is in the initial stages of creating unmanned drone submarines that
will navigate the oceans, tracking and following enemy subs for months at a
time.
The Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA), which is responsible for developing new military
technologies, started the project because “the growing number of adversaries
able to build and operate quiet diesel electric submarines is a national
security threat that affects US and friendly naval operations around the
world,” according to a statement on the DARPA website.
Normally, anti-submarine warfare has
been conducted by US Navy captains at the helm of ships, but humans will never
board these drones, also known as a “Continuous Trail Autonomous Vessels,”
according to Discovery News.
The subs will be able to patrol the
US coastline for up to 80 days at a time covering thousands of kilometers using
non-conventional sensor technologies that “achieve robust continuous track of
the quietest submarine targets over their entire operating envelope,” DARPA
stated on its website.
The vessel’s main task will be to
patrol the waters for enemy submarines and then chase them away if located. The
sub will also gather information deemed necessary by the US government, which
will then be sent to US naval commanders up above on land, according to
Discovery News.
The only time humans are needed to
operate the unarmed drones will be to navigate the robot subs through crowded
harbors.
In August, DARPA awarded a $58
million contract to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC),
which is now responsible for designing, constructing and creating a prototype
of the vessel.
