The Pentagon is moving into a new era of robotic maritime warfare.
President Donald Trump wants a vast fleet of drone vessels, including kamikaze speedboats, to be able to swarm off Taiwan by 2027, when China has said its military will be ready to invade the island.
A recently passed bill included almost $5 billion for 'maritime autonomous systems' and testing has been going on at venues including Ventura (California) since April.
Fleets of unmanned boats, along with aerial drones and robot submarines, are key to America's 'hellscape' strategy to defend Taiwan.
'I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities,' Admiral Sam Paparo, Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said recently.
'So that I can make their lives utterly miserable for a month, which buys me the time for the rest of everything.'
He said that would 'offer the world a short, sharp war so that it is a fait accompli before the world can get their act together.'
As the sea drone plan develops U.S. defense officials have been watching closely the use of unmanned surface attack vessels by Ukraine.
The Ukrainian ones look like speedboats, are loaded with explosive payloads, and can cost as little as $250,000.
According to Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute: 'In Taiwan, they're looking at using these as part of this "hellscape" concept...where they basically put a bunch of these little boats in the water when it looks like China might invade.
'And they're just going to go after Chinese amphibious ships on their way in, and it's a pretty easy shot for them, because the Chinese ships are coming at you, you just need to drive at them and explode.'
The Navy is testing robot boats like this one which would be used to deter China from attacking Taiwan
A rendering of an Orca undersea attack drone which could be used to dink submarines
Two years ago the Pentagon started a $1 billion program called Replicator to produce thousands of robot boats and aerial drones.
A key Navy document, known as Project 33, says that drone boats are still considered the way forward.
'This navigation plan drives toward two strategic ends: readiness for the possibility of war with the People’s Republic of China by 2027 and enhancing the Navy’s long-term advantage,' it says.
'By 2027, we will integrate proven robotic and autonomous systems for routine use by the commanders who will employ them.'
A map shows how China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been conducting drills in the waters around Taiwan
U.S. drone boats off Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California
A positive development last month saw the unveiling of the USX-1 Defiant, a 180ft-long robot boat which can go to sea for a year without any human sailors.
A Pentagon spokesman said: 'Defiant is a tough little ship and defies the idea that we cannot make a ship that can operate in the challenging environment of the open ocean without people to operate her.'
A Ukrainian drone boat sneaks up to attack a Russian warship
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15059009/trump-china-kamikaze-drone-ship-Taiwan-crash.html
No comments:
Post a Comment