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When it comes to autonomous vehicles, the sea is the new frontier—in the eyes of the Department of Defense, at least.
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper addressed the U.S.'s efforts to outpace China's long-range autonomous submarine ambitions. The Navy plans to build a fleet of “optionally manned, unmanned, and autonomous surface and subsurface vehicles,” said Esper.
You might remember the Sea Hunter, a prototype of an autonomous surface vehicle developed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
- In 2018, it became the first-ever ship to complete an autonomous sail.
- This month, it was paired with the Navy destroyer USS Russell to demo “unmanned teaming.”
The tide’s not coming in on autonomous vessels anytime soon:
- Eventually, Esper said, “unmanned systems [will] perform a variety of warfighting functions—from delivering lethal fires and laying mines to conducting resupply or surveilling the enemy.”
Big picture: Call it the military-industrial complex or the trickle-down effect, but there’s a definite connection between large-scale military tech investment and the civilian tech development that happens later. Since many tech giants prioritize massive defense contracts, that’s unlikely to change.