The U.S. Navy’s efforts to build a fleet of unmanned vessels are faltering because the Pentagon remains wedded to big shipbuilding projects, according to some officials and company executives, exposing a weakness as sea drones reshape naval warfare.
The U.S. Navy’s efforts to build a fleet of unmanned vessels are faltering because the Pentagon remains wedded to big shipbuilding projects, according to some officials and company executives, exposing a weakness as sea drones reshape naval warfare.
You would need a dedicated ship them, an expensive one.
Why though? Carrier groups engage surface opponents via aircraft that can get them faster and farther away.
why would a dedicated ship be needed? You would just need some sort of interface mechanism on the carrier. The word carrier group means multiple ships. The idea im thinking of is those other carrier defense ships would be replaced by drones.
I am confused as to even what size you conceive these drones to be. Will they be carried or attached to the carrier (the aircraft carrier? A helicopter/landing ship?). Will they be able to independently travel in the ocean like proper escorts do?
Will they actually be supposed to provide air defense and/or anti-submarine capabilities on their own? Because you will need size to house the equipment for all those capabilities and of course all that equipment is expensive.
I envision them being scaled to a particular task. So take a destroyer. Every gun would be its own drone ship and specific drones would just drop depth charges.