There’s a completely new kind of water-vessel on the block — a submarine-hunting drone ship that can search thousands of kilometers of ocean for months at a time, with absolutely no crew members on board.
The 130-foot-long vehicle was unveiled earlier in the year and developed with the idea of creating warfare technology that relies on smaller and less expensive microelectronics.
Once complete, the drone ship should be able to navigate the sea all on its own and work in conjunction with manned and unmanned vehicles both on the seas and on land, according to National Defense Magazine.
The ship, developed by DARPA’s Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), is already undergoing tests in Oregon where it reached a top speed of 27 knots (31 mph/50 kph).
The vessel is scheduled to be christened on April 7, 2016, with open-water testing planned to begin in summer 2016 off the California coast.
Watch initial tests here.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.