Posted on 12/24/2013 9:46:34 AM PST by lbryce
While you were out shopping Sunday for those last-minute holiday gifts, the Navy pushed ahead with its own vision of an underwater sugar plum: a fleet of “long endurance, transoceanic gliders harvesting all energy from the ocean thermocline.”
And you thought Jules Verne died in 1905.
Fact is, the Navy has been seeking—pretty much under the surface—a way to do underwater what the Air Force has been doing in the sky: prowl stealthily for long periods of time, and gather the kind of data that could turn the tide in war.
The Navy’s goal is to send an underwater drone, which it calls a “glider,” on a roller-coaster-like path for up to five years. A fleet of them could swarm an enemy coastline, helping the Navy hunt down minefields and target enemy submarines.
(Excerpt) Read more at swampland.time.com ...
So, has the “Sharks with Laser Beams Attached to Their Foreheads Program” been cancelled?
A military dolphin is a dolphin trained for military uses. The United States and Russian militaries have trained and employed oceanic dolphins for several reasons. Such military dolphins have been trained to rescue lost naval swimmers or to locate underwater mines.
The U.S. Navy trains dolphins and sea lions under the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program, which is based in San Diego, California. They get some of their dolphins from the Gulf of Mexico. Military dolphins were used by the U.S. Navy during the First and Second Gulf Wars.About 75 dolphins are in the program.
More properly, welcome to Time magazine, which has lost so much credibility and objective journalistic talent they have no choice but switch from attempts at news reporting to gee-whiz stuff right off some back issue of Popular Mechanix.
...might be owned by the same bunch of pinhead libs now, so I doubt anyone at PM will complain.
There was a competition a few years back that DARPA sponsored to see who has the best autonomous robot vehicle. I knew the technology would play out in the form of drones. SkyNet, SeaNet, LandNet.
SkyNet already exists!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_%28satellite%29
Skynet is a family of military satellites, now operated by Astrium Services on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence, which provide strategic communication services to the three branches of the British Armed Forces and to NATO forces engaged on coalition tasks. The satellites were operated by Paradigm Secure Communications until October 2012 when the organisation was rebranded to Astrium Services.
Look up DARPA+Loki
Loki, a piloted underwater vehicle analogous to a
modern fighter jet. Supposed to be powered by a
Vortex drive, what ever that is. Wonder how they
progressed in the years since I first found it.
We could hollow out obama voters and make wet suits
My reference to SkyNet a tip of the hat to the Terminator movies.
Wouldn’t these drones be limited to areas without strong currents? A forward speed of 1.6 mph seems to be a limiting factor.
Sharks with frickin’ laser beams on their heads.
Those will be countered by dolphins with laser armour and harpoon guns.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.