The future of defense and warfare may be in high-technology “robots,” as the US Navy plans to release a fleet of anti-submarine boat drones under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (“DARPA”). Kemplon Engineering takes a closer look at this developing news.
Image “Human Eye On Technology Design Background” courtesy of jscreationzs at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Submarines, spies and robots? It might sound like a Cold War-era, high-tech spy movie, but the past few months have shown that sometimes, reel life isn’t as far removed from real life as we would want it to be. Last October, Sweden was engaged in a massive mobilization, scouring their country’s waters for unwelcome underwater activity from a suspected foreign submarine. And just this past January, the UK’s Ministry of Defense called for assistance in tracking a suspected Russian submarine off the coast of Scotland.
Russia has denied involvement, and the searches have yielded little information to shed definitive light on the suspected submarine sightings. But the defense of national borders from these unwelcome activities is high in the minds of many authorities. The US Navy, in particular, has a few new tools up its sleeve.
The Anti-submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (“ACTUV”) will have the ability to detect and tail diesel-powered submarines, so that authorities can monitor subs close to America’s waters. Researchers are also looking at mobile and fixed underwater satellites or “sub-ulites,” and deep sea sonars to detect the distinct acoustics of submarines. Aside from tools to track submarines, DARPA is also looking at a system of pre-deployed robot pods on the ocean floor that can be triggered in the future for surveillance or communications purposes.
Robot “Sea Hunters,” “Sub-Ulites” and other potentially game-changing, high-tech gadgets sound like the stuff of fiction, but they are all too near in our horizon—just as the dangers of our complex world are all too real and possible. We at Kemplon Engineering applaud the efforts of our Navy at always seeking inventive ways at protecting our safety and national interests.
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