Think Skynet, but under water. According to the media, “the US Navy has reportedly launched and recovered an underwater drone from its USS North Dakota submarine, which is said to be its first such mission.”
Like the rest of the armed forces, the Navy has been taking a hard look at employing drones.
The traditional missions for drones are the dull, the dirty, and the dangerous. No military environment includes more of those missions that operating undersea.
While employing underwater terminators seems to make perfect sense, it is not as easy as it looks. There are few places more difficult for machines to operate than deep under the ocean—corrosion, pressure, power and communications requirements–almost nothing is as effortless as it was in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
It remains to be seen whether the Navy’s latest test is an interesting science fair experiment or the shape of things to come.
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