The United States’ military has named its “experimental self-driving warship” which has been fabricated to hunt out enemy submarines. The said feat demonstrates a “major advance in robotic warfare” which will prove helpful to America in countering “Chinese and Russian naval investments”.
The warship is hundred thirty two feet in length and comes with “unarmed prototype”, named “Sea Hunter” could be equivalent to “Google's self-driving car” in water. The design enables it to “cruise on the ocean’s surface for two or three months at a time” without the any human connection or any remote control mechanism.
The autonomy and endurance demonstrated by the Sea Hunter makes it a “highly efficient submarine stalker” while the cost is nothing in comparison to Navy's manned vessels”.
The “Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary”, Robert Work stated:
"This is an inflection point... This is the first time we've ever had a totally robotic, trans-oceanic-capable ship.”
Moreover, he also hopes that such ships find a place in the “western Pacific in the coming five years. Work is one of the planners at Pentagon, who considers the Sea Hunter to be a befitting “strategy” complementing the “unmanned drones”. Peter Singer from the “New America Foundation think tank” is an expert of robotic warfare, who stated:
"We're not working on anti-submarine (technology) just because we think it's cool. We're working on it because we're deeply concerned about the advancements that China and Russia are making in this space”.
Work also hopes that should the Sea Hunter prove safe, it could eventually lead the “U.S. Navy's Japan-based 7th Fleet”. As per his goal, the ships, the likes of Sea Hunter, would operate on missions besides engaging in “counter-mine warfare operations”, wherein “limited human supervision” would be required. Work compared the Sea Hunter to first drones and he said:
"I would like to see unmanned flotillas operating in the western Pacific and the Persian Gulf within five years”.
While, the Navy Director of “unmanned warfare systems”, Rear Admiral Robert Girrier stated:
"You now have an asset at a fraction of the cost of a manned platform.”
The Sea Hunter was developed by DARPA and is subject to two years testing period, so has to ensure the capability of the ship of following “international norms” while operating in the open sea. However, Reuters inform:
“The advent of increasingly autonomous ships and aircraft is stoking concern among some experts and activists about armed robotic systems that could identify people as threats and kill them”.
References:
http://www.reuters.com/
The warship is hundred thirty two feet in length and comes with “unarmed prototype”, named “Sea Hunter” could be equivalent to “Google's self-driving car” in water. The design enables it to “cruise on the ocean’s surface for two or three months at a time” without the any human connection or any remote control mechanism.
The autonomy and endurance demonstrated by the Sea Hunter makes it a “highly efficient submarine stalker” while the cost is nothing in comparison to Navy's manned vessels”.
The “Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary”, Robert Work stated:
"This is an inflection point... This is the first time we've ever had a totally robotic, trans-oceanic-capable ship.”
Moreover, he also hopes that such ships find a place in the “western Pacific in the coming five years. Work is one of the planners at Pentagon, who considers the Sea Hunter to be a befitting “strategy” complementing the “unmanned drones”. Peter Singer from the “New America Foundation think tank” is an expert of robotic warfare, who stated:
"We're not working on anti-submarine (technology) just because we think it's cool. We're working on it because we're deeply concerned about the advancements that China and Russia are making in this space”.
Work also hopes that should the Sea Hunter prove safe, it could eventually lead the “U.S. Navy's Japan-based 7th Fleet”. As per his goal, the ships, the likes of Sea Hunter, would operate on missions besides engaging in “counter-mine warfare operations”, wherein “limited human supervision” would be required. Work compared the Sea Hunter to first drones and he said:
"I would like to see unmanned flotillas operating in the western Pacific and the Persian Gulf within five years”.
While, the Navy Director of “unmanned warfare systems”, Rear Admiral Robert Girrier stated:
"You now have an asset at a fraction of the cost of a manned platform.”
The Sea Hunter was developed by DARPA and is subject to two years testing period, so has to ensure the capability of the ship of following “international norms” while operating in the open sea. However, Reuters inform:
“The advent of increasingly autonomous ships and aircraft is stoking concern among some experts and activists about armed robotic systems that could identify people as threats and kill them”.
References:
http://www.reuters.com/
