[Onkel Neal]

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/get-ready-russia-china-iran-americas-new-submarine-killer-15737

Autonomous robo-ships will hunt for submarines sooner than anticipated. On April 7, the U.S. military christened the Sea Hunter, an experimental vessel which is part of the Pentagon’s Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trial Unmanned Vessel, or ACTUV, program.

At 130 feet in length, the trimaran-shaped Sea Hunter has become the world’s largest unmanned surface vessel and will serve as a test bed for the Navy, assessing the use and capabilities of future unmanned ships.


Sea Hunter, in particular, will practice hunting submarines.

One of the ACTUV project’s goals is to develop an unmanned vessel that, due to an unconventional design and lack of crew, could match the speed of diesel-electric submarines.

During the ship’s latest speed test, Sea Hunter reached 27 knots, or 31 miles per hour — which no conventional submarine can beat.