Sea Hunter,’ a drone ship with no crew, just joined the U.S. Navy fleet

originally posted by: Murgatroid
The article I cited earlier said that it is intended to track diesel-powered submarines for months at a time...

I was a Navy sonar tech stationed on an ASW frigate in the seventy's and we very rarely ever made sonar contact with a sub, I mean I can only remember a couple of times in four years, how is this thing going to maintain contact when a sub can dive below the thermal layer and easily lose a ship in minutes.

Has the technology changed that much over the years?

Any other techs here know what the tech used on board is like now?

The trimaran design lends itself to endurance, sea keeping, and speed, which will be necessary for keeping up with sprinting diesel submarines as well as those that are running slow and quiet for long periods of time.

DARPA's Unmanned Submarine Stalker Could Change Naval Warfare Forever

The ship is a boon. It's not going to do anything except sink. Who the F out there are we trying to track anyway. Always some nonsense program created to go after some non existent enemy...

The sides are going to RIP OFF the hull in high seas.

a reply to: Zaphod58

The Navy doesn't want unmanned systems and generally fights them tooth and nail. There's no reason to think this will be any different.

they do use autonomous systems such as the Phalanx however. So they aren't totally opposed to the idea. although the FC is technically in control of it but still

So who is going to be responsible when this thing runs into a a fishing boat?

a reply to: Murgatroid

(Not an ASW guy) As the idea was explained to me, it is to just have more arrays out there. Think of it as a more persistent sonobouy. Several in a pickett can hound a contact and suppress it while you clear the rest of the surface group out and let you move more/better ASW assets into position. So just makes a much cheaper pickett than a DD. Also has a some growth potential for AMCM.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: schuyler

Actually I'm pretty sure that drones are doing the job of spec ops already just not the entire job of spec ops.

Actually, I'm pretty sure they don't. Drones spy and drop glop on people. That's it.

"Special forces and special operations forces are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO defines special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, trained, and equipped forces, manned with selected personnel, using unconventional tactics, techniques, and modes of employment".

Source

Also:

n the United States Armed Forces, SOF includes Army Special Forces ("Green Berets"), Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, Navy SWCC, United States Air Force Special Tactics, Marine Special Operations (MARSOC), select specially trained Military Intelligence/Counterintelligence units, Civil Affairs (active duty), Military Information Support Operations (MISO), which was formerly Psychological Operations personnel (PSYOP), and Special Operations Aviation units under the umbrella of the United States Special Operations Command.

Take a look here for a list (PDF takes awhile to load.) Now if you want to include drones in there, by all means do so but to imply that drones "do the job of special ops' is simply not true. Those who actually are in these units would laugh at that contention.

a reply to: schuyler

who do you think was extracting and killing all of those high profile targets that drones are killing prior to their existence?

special warfare units

but believe whatever you want

I'm not even going to bring up the use of autonomous or piloted robotics being used to disable bombs and accomplish other recon task I mean there are a ton of applications that these things are performing that were once jobs of special operators

Found a concept video on YouTube with a comment below it that raises an interesting question similar to the one I asked before, (how can it detect quiet subs)...

I know this is a conceptual cartoon of how this thing will work, but I'm gonna ask a few questions about how its gonna detect a quiet sub. From the video, is this thing pulling an array to pick up the target passively? It does not show whether the thing has a hull conformal array or if it will drag an array like SURTASS or will it drop an array like ALFS. Or will it be networked into SOSUS to help locate the target. At the speeds this thing is going I doubt if it will find anything with the flow noise.

It will need to get a sensor under the layer to have any chance of finding a target. Part of the video show something that looks like its going active to track the target. So is this thing going to drive around the ocean pinging trying to find a target? The bad guys will hear it 100's of miles away. If the bad guys have satellites they'll know where this ship is so it will be easy to just stay away from it. I bet if this thing gets deployed the bad guys will be following closely right behind it.

originally posted by: SR1TX
That's going to capsize.

Billion dollar waste.

The sides will rip completely off in high seas. Watch.

Those are outriggers.
That ship is made to take the wind and roaring seas

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: schuyler

who do you think was extracting and killing all of those high profile targets that drones are killing prior to their existence?

special warfare units

but believe whatever you want

Which exist far beyond mere drones. I'm not convinced you're up to speed on the issue, bud. There are a whole lot of Rangers, Green Beets, SEALS, etc. who consider themselves Special Ops.

but believe whatever you want.

a reply to: toysforadults

They want systems that are part of ships, or are minor systems, like the MQ-8 helicopters. What they don't want are full scale ships, or large aircraft programs.

a reply to: schuyler

apparently you take everything everyone says to it's logical extreme rather than taking it for what it actually means

not a single person in this thread mentioned that they were totally replaced but some of the jobs they do have been replaced weather you like it or not

www.army-technology.com...

www.army-technology.com...

ahhhh hell what's the point take it to it's logical extreme

a reply to: Zaphod58

I wonder if it has a defense system built in yet or plans to?

a reply to: toysforadults

I don't think it currently has any weapons on board. Eventuality, but right now I think they're just working out the controls and ASW systems.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: Zaphod58

I wonder if it has a defense system built in yet or plans to?

Lets send it over by Iran and find out

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: toysforadults

I don't think it currently has any weapons on board. Eventuality, but right now I think they're just working out the controls and ASW systems.

be interesting to see how they handle the defensive aspect of it

a reply to: Murgatroid

It's for littoral use, not blue water ops. So they're relying primarily on passive, closing, active, MAD to try to harry them or keep them down. Even with active pinging, if they scurry away, that's keeping them away from the Amphibs and co.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: schuyler

apparently you take everything everyone says to it's logical extreme rather than taking it for what it actually means

Apparently, you didn't actually click on the links I provided. The handbook on Special Ops in the US sets the trend nicely. In a book that is several dozen pages long, the drones receive a single page of coverage. Given that each page lists several large military groups representing tens of thousands of personnel from every service, that pretty well puts things in perspective. "Special Ops," by and large, do not have drones. A couple of units do. That does not mean drones dominate the "special ops" community. The drones are a very small part of "special ops" and if you insist on thinking of drones as the main component of "special ops," you are completely missing he overall picture of what "special ops" consists of and what"special ops" does--or means.

im always curious about drones. seems to be the future for many reasons for our military. now i just hope this drone gets some of its own sub drones to help hunt those diesel electrics quietly slipping by

a reply to: schuyler

dude, I never said any of what you said I said

you are so way far off the mark it's insane, do you even read your own post before you make them?

go ahead and quote me saying any of that please do

and for the record drone strikes are a form of special operations

a reply to: RadioRobert

Very good answers to my questions...

Your references to green-water ops, MAD sensors, etc. made me realize you have a better understanding of ASW OPs than I did when I was still on active duty.

Much appreciated BTW...