Drone Warship

A new class of anti-submarine warfare vessel known as a Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MDUSV) was recently transferred to the United States Navy, where it could be deployed for active operations as early as this year. The first totally autonomous ship capable of transoceanic travel, the vessel carries no weapons but is designed for submarine surveillance and mine countermeasures.

This represents a change in strategy for the Navy, which is moving away from the use of small numbers of large, high-value assets toward larger numbers of smaller platforms. Known as wSea Hunter, the MDUSV is relatively inexpensive to build (around $20 million) and less costly to operate than manned vessels, and should be able to stay at sea for months at a time without a crew. The 127-foot-long craft has a maximum speed of 27 knots and a range of 10,000 nautical miles, and carries a full complement of cameras and radar. The vision is to have flotillas of these ships operating in the Persian Gulf and western Pacific Ocean in about five years.