Unmanned underwater vehicles may replace fixed undersea sensor networks and could eventually be weaponised, according to US Navy (USN) officials, but the service has yet to set up a clear command and control chain to deconflict undersea assets.
At the recent Submarine League symposium in the US, USN Vice Admiral Jay Donnelly, the submarine force senior commander, laid out a vision for the undersea environment by 2040 that relied heavily on UUVs.
“We’ll need to leverage technology and create a network of interconnected sensors with submarines as the hub of that network,” he said.
“We’ll use unmanned undersea vehicles and distributed netted sensors to serve to expand the sphere of influence that our submarines have, and will enable persistent presence in more areas of the world.”