Russia is developing a system consisting of a swarm of underwater combat drones, Gazeta.Ru reported, citing a source.
The AI-controlled system, consisting of both surface and underwater vehicles with a total displacement of 500-1,000 tons, will be deployed in a range of missions, including against an enemy aircraft carrier, the Moscow-based news outlet explained.
“For example, the command post sets a common task — to destroy the enemy aircraft carrier strike group. Artificial intelligence, which will control the swarm of underwater drones, solves this problem in accordance with very specific and constantly changing circumstances,” the news outlet quoted the source as saying.
“Then you need to focus on one of the areas. Then make a maneuver and shift efforts to another direction. Then, for a while, withdraw from the battle and mislead the enemy with demonstrative actions,” the source, which the website claimed is embedded in the country’s military-industrial complex, added.
“All this will be done by artificial intelligence, which receives data on the situation from a wide variety of sources.”
Developers Working on Signalling and Control System
Currently, system developers are working on refining the inter-medium (air to water) transmission of control commands.
The “latest electronic gyroscopes”— devices that detect the deviation of an object from its desired orientation — will be fitted into the vehicles for navigation.
“Their error per 1,000 km (621 miles) of track can be significantly less than 100 meters (0.062 miles). This will allow the drone to be brought into the vicinity of the target with great accuracy,” the website wrote.
Since the unmanned vehicles are generally cheaper than their manned counterparts and do not carry the risk of human casualties, the Russian navy can much more easily afford to lose a vehicle during operations compared.
Russia’s Other Underwater Drone system
The news of the development of a swarm of underwater and surface drones comes on the heels of Moscow’s announcement of a series of submarines to carry the underwater nuclear torpedo, Poseidon.
Dubbed the “doomsday drone,” the Poseidon has a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and can carry a nuclear warhead with a yield of up to 100 megatons to most parts of the world while remaining immersed 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) beneath the surface.
US Navy Exercise With Manned-Unmanned Platforms
Meanwhile, the US Navy also undertook a naval exercise last month consisting of a range of manned and unmanned vehicles operating together off the California coast.
The seven-day Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21 provided a glimpse of the future fleet consisting of a mix of crewed and uncrewed vessels. The drill focused on how the unmanned systems work in synchronization with manned counterparts.