It might look like a skinny boat with aquatic training wheels, or a bad metal damselfly sculpture, or a chunk of the Delaware Memorial Bridge broken off, but it’s not. It’s the newest, brightest United States Navy vessel. And it doesn’t need anyone to physically man it. And it exists to hunt enemy submarines and underwater mines. And it’s called the “Sea Hunter”.

And it was christened in Portland, Oregon on Thursday.

It’s the “centerpiece” of DARPA’s Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program. Floating at 130 feet in length, the drone boat will be run through tests this summer off the San Diego coast.

It’s scheduled to be officially part of the Navy’s fleet in 2018 — according to the Pentagon.

This from Washington Post:

The ship’s allure is in its independence. The Pentagon envisions it being able to travel thousands of miles at a time on its own, undertaking missions up to a month long with minimal interaction with humans. Defense officials say it is able to avoid crashing into other ships through advanced software and hardware that form automated “lookouts.” It will be required to meet International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, known in the maritime world as COLREGS.

The ship also can be operated remotely, similar to other drones in the Pentagon’s fleet of unmanned aircraft, ships and submarines. They also could eventually be operated in fleets, giving the Defense Department an inexpensive way to boost maritime security.

The Sea Hunter test vessel was built by Leidos, a defense and engineering company with headquarters in Reston, Va. It announced last year that a smaller, 42-foot prototype had completed its first self-guided voyage between Gulfport and Pascagoula, Miss. The Sea Hunter was built in Oregon and completed early testing there in the Columbia River.

DARPA is proud?