Yellow submarine: Navy hopes new drone revolutionizes how war is fought
| National Harbor, Md.
Military officials are hoping that the Navy鈥檚 new yellow submarine 鈥� the latest high-tech advance in underwater drones 鈥� is going to revolutionize the way the Pentagon fights wars all over the world.
Developing these drones, however, means unlocking some tricky linchpins in unmanned technology in an effort to teach military machines autonomous behavior, which entails delving into what officials call 鈥渕emory mapping鈥� and other particulars of how people鈥檚 brains work.
For this reason, it鈥檚 important to understand 鈥渘ot just algorithms,鈥� says Rear Adm. Mathias Winter, 鈥渂ut also the humanistic side 鈥� understanding neural networks and how we make decisions.鈥�
Standing in an expo booth next to the banana-hued, boxcar-sized unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) at the Navy鈥檚 Sea-Air-Space conference this week, Rear Admiral Winter, who heads up the Office of Naval Research, oversees some 1,100 PhDs working for the service鈥檚 high-tech arm.
鈥淚 am continuously amazed with the underwater breakthrough technologies,鈥� he says, glancing at a small 鈥渟warming鈥� drone displayed just above his head at the expo in National Harbor, Md.
These breakthroughs include exploring not just decisionmaking technology, but also 鈥渙ff the charts, revolutionary鈥� leaps forward in battery life and power storage to allow such crafts to one day operate for 鈥渕onths and years鈥� underwater, Winter adds.
Beneath the world鈥檚 oceans is a rich and tough-to-navigate landscape, with mountains, peaks and valleys, shifting sands, blowing wind, wildlife, and 鈥渙ther man-made objects,鈥� he says. 鈥淗ow do we make sure it doesn鈥檛 bump into something?鈥�
At the moment the yellow submarine, whose Navy name is the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV), can stay underwater for 30 days. 鈥淲e are pursuing weeks, months, years,鈥� Winter says. 鈥淚鈥檒l stop short of decades.鈥�
When it鈥檚 ready, it can move things 鈥� 鈥渓eaflets, pizzas,鈥� he adds 鈥� and launch weapons.
These underwater drones could also one day conceivably carry smaller unmanned flying counterparts to release on command, such as the Navy鈥檚 other touted technological breakthrough, the LOCUST 鈥� or Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology 鈥� a collection of mini-drones that move in unison.
The Navy鈥檚 aim is to show that it can use swarms of them to attack and overwhelm enemy forces 鈥� starting with 10 and moving up to dozens.
The tiny drones look like flying microphones with wings made of magic wands. They are 鈥渁 science breakthrough,鈥� Winter says.
In designing LOCUST, Navy researchers were inspired by swarms of termites. 鈥淭hink about when you come out of a house and termites are swarming,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 just move through gladly: You start to maneuver.鈥�
This fact offers both 鈥渄efensive and offensive opportunities.鈥�
The Navy released an illustrated video showing a handful of LOCUST drones swooping above what appears to be a small desert town, then moving in for an attack.
Studying swarms of termites was inspirational for another reason, says Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, head of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va.
鈥淲ithout communicating, they sense the environment change around them,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd they instinctively know which way to go.鈥�
