Robot Wolfpacks: The Faster, Cheaper 355-Ship Fleet

Robot Wolfpacks: The Faster, Cheaper 355-Ship Fleet
Robot Wolfpacks: The Faster, Cheaper 355-Ship Fleet

Smaller unmanned vessels will act as expendable scouts and decoys, larger ones — over 50 meters — will carry masses of missiles, while manned ships will carry both the largest systems and the human beings essential for rapid adaptation in combat.

Google Cars, Pokemon Go, & The Future Of War: Roper Interview Part II

Google Cars, Pokemon Go, & The Future Of War: Roper Interview Part II
Google Cars, Pokemon Go, & The Future Of War: Roper Interview Part II

William Roper is “buying time” for the rest of the Pentagon, he told us in a rare interview. His Strategic Capabilities Office finds near-term but game-changing upgrades for existing weapons systems, preserving American advantage over rapidly advancing adversaries while DARPA and Defense Department labs develop a new generation of breakthroughs. Yesterday, we wrote about Roper’s…

DSD Work Embraces DARPA’s Robot Boat, Sea Hunter

DSD Work Embraces DARPA’s Robot Boat, Sea Hunter
DSD Work Embraces DARPA’s Robot Boat, Sea Hunter

This afternoon, Deputy Defense Secretary and robotics booster Bob Work will christen the largest unmanned surface vessel in history. At 130 feet long and not quite 140 tons displacement, DARPA’s Sea Hunter dwarfs previous robotic boats, giving it the ruggedness and fuel capacity, about 70 days’ worth, to cross oceans on its own power without a manned mothership. But…

Raytheon Sonar, SAIC Drone Ship Could Transform Anti-Sub Warfare

Anti-submarine warfare has given rise to some of the best war movies — “Run Silent, Run Deep;” “The Hunt For Red October” and “Das Boot” come to mind. The romance of the terror of being hunted and of the human conflict inherent in submarine warfare offers great material for auteurs. But the sometimes unbearable tension…