Blake Hall
Behold the Sea Hunter, the U.S. Navy’s first ever self-driving warship.
One part unmanned drone, one part Google car and one part destroyer, the Sea Hunter is a large vessel designed to traverse entire oceans without having a single crew member aboard.
The Sea Hunter is 132 feet long and and can reach speeds of up to 27 knots per hour. It costs $15,000 per day to operate, and by the end of its testing period the Navy estimates that the warship will cost a total $20 million. Compared to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter ($1.5 trillion) and the USS Milwaukee ($437 million), the Sea Hunter is dirt cheap.
During the vessel’s testing phase, humans will be aboard to make sure the Sea Hunter doesn’t run into anything or experience any huge malfunctions. Assuming everything goes according to plan and the Sea Hunter exceeds all safety standards, it will sail itself for months at a time without any human guidance.
The Sea Hunter’s main purpose is to detect diesel-electric submarines that are invisible to traditional radar technology. Submarines of this kind are being developed by the likes of China and Russia.
Deputy US defense secretary Robert Work told Reuters that he “would like to see unmanned flotillas operating in the western Pacific and the Persian Gulf within five years.”
However, the Sea Hunter remains unarmed.