Non-state actors and the weaponization of underwater unmanned systems

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Non-state actors and the weaponization of underwater unmanned systems
From narcosubs to sea-denial weapons

"Anticipating a disruptive threat is critical to mitigating its impact."

"Drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) are at the vanguard of nonstate actors" ventures into the undersea domain, and they likely will be among the first to employ UUVs. Over the past two decades, Colombian DTOs developed the ability to build sophisticated self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) vessels to thwart surface-based detection and interdiction forces patrolling their trafficking routes. These "narcosubs" convey an estimated 30 percent of the maritime flow of drugs from South America."



"From the military point of view, UUVs are meant to sense, track, identify, target, and destroy a hostile asset autonomously, and they must fulfill this mission operating within a full net-centric battlespace. UUVs can play many key roles, but here me and my team just focus on the capability to deliver ordnance to a target with sensor-to-shooter closure measured in seconds. By launching a weapon from a UUV we are in a position to get a launch point closer to the target resulting in quicker response time for prosecution."

"See, the paradigm has changed. It is not a question of unmanned aerial vehicles versus underwater unmanned vehicles; it is a question of developing a vehicle that operates both in the airspace or in the underwater theater. "Tangent" is a vehicle than can plunge into the ocean from an altitude of DENIED, and carry on with underwater operations at a depth of DENIED before re-emerging out of the water back to the sky. Furthermore, there is a minimal impact as it enters the water. No whirlpool, no sound, no way to track it."

"The lessons learned from the drills is clear. Naval forces must be able to counter undersea threats to be effective in the modern world. During a war game in 2005, USS Ronald Reagan suffered five torpedo hits from a Gotland-class sub. There have been multiple exercises where the US Navy played war games and in which we used MilOrbs and PSVs to test the overall response. The result of these exercises is exciting. While protection for air platforms has evolved to the point that there is an effective synergy between onboard and offboard countermeasures, protection against MilOrbs and PSVs threats is not developed at all. This means we can sink any warship out there, including any aircraft carrier, without anyone having a clue how we did it. The bad news is that we can even sink our own warships, so it is a matter of time our enemies develop their own PSVs and MilOrbs against which there is no defense."




"MilOrbs and PSVs have put an end to the old concept of Army, Navy, and Air Force. What's the point of talking about aircrafts and submarines when the same object behaves as an aircraft to then descend to the sea surface and submerge, to just re-emerge miles away from the surface and behave as a cruise missile?"

"The undersea environment is a challenging one; the development of undersea weapons involves special technologies, adaptations of other technologies, and unique integration of all these technologies in a way far more complex than that required for the development of other weapon systems. DOLYN was mainly supported because there was a need to confront deadly unidentified submerged objects in our oceans and because we felt the need to track waferprobes and other nano-UFOs that are literally overpopulating our skies and oceans."

"Funds were diverted towards the development of both the neutrino radar and the development of a high-speed, supercavitating vehicle. The currently N3 doctrine - National Naval Need - focuses on upgrades of existing torpedo systems, therefore paradigm-shifting vehicles and MilOrbs is not part of the Navy, neither DARPA, nor the Army or the Air Force run these programs. So the question remains as to who is really behind all these tic-tacs, MilOrbs, USOs, and MilOrbs."

"This also involved developing and deploying advanced distributed sensor arrays and its related data fusion and undersea communications systems. This in turn means advanced signal processing, new power concepts, and a brand new defense doctrine. The presence of narcosubs and sophisticated self-propelled semi-submersible operated by drug-trafficking organizations is just a nuisance, though it provides us with the perfect excuse to fund DOLYN-related defense programs."

"We would be in a priviliged position if the fighting environment were In the atmosphere, because in that environment objects are generally visible, locatable, and identifiable. The basic principle in that environment is based on the fact that electromagnetic radiation is reflected, refracted, and absorbed to a manageable extent, and the boundaries do not cause major problems. Electromagnetic emissions from sources occur at the speed of light, resulting in high data rates, which facilitate detection, classification, localization, and engagement. By comparison, the underwater challenge in these respects is limited by the speed of sound in seawater. Furthermore, radiation is strongly absorbed and redirected at boundaries, thus deep water provides cover."

"Tic-tac UFOs? No, sorry. They are kinetic weapons at hypersonic speeds. Do you know what the result would be if three of them impact against the USS Nimitz? I'll tell you: the smallest piece you'd find will be the size of a tic-tac mint. The incredible thing in that incident is not the kinetic weapon itself; it is the fact that we operated them from Tangent and Sienna and yet none of the assets in Carrier Strike Group 11 detected them. That's the situation."




"While you were looking for them up in the skies, they were safely operating under the sea."

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