How underwater drones will change the Navy’s sub game

By: Geoff Ziezulewicz  

Standing at the forefront of game-changing innovations in undersea warfare, Navy Cmdr. Scott Smith has only one small request.

Don't call the Navy's fleet of unmanned undersea vehicles “drones.”

“It has a negative connotation,” Smith said. “We think of drone strikes as taking out Taliban, and we're nowhere near that.”

Not yet, anyway. But the Pentagon is trying quickly to get there.

Last fall, the Navy named Smith as the first-ever commander of the new Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron 1, or UUVRON-1. It's spearheading the service's development and deployment of unmanned underwater vehicles.

Called UUVs, they're are already being used for surveillance and to clear mines and map the ocean floor, according to Bryan Clark, a retired submariner who is now a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Full Article: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/08/03/how-underwater-drones-will-change-the-navys-sub-game/