Why Eel Drones Are the Future of Naval Warfare

The Navy is looking into Eel drones for underwater reconnaissance and/or attack. Apparently, this tech has been around since the 50's but is just now starting to shine as several countries including the US and Russia begin to explore the possibilities of undersea Eel drones to protect Battleships, or attack underwater divers.

Different research outfits have used sea drones since 1957, when researchers at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab first launched a machine called the Special Purpose Underwater Research Vehicle, or SPURV. The Soviet Union conducted its own secret research for decades and today, many consider the Russian Institute of Marine Technology Problems the technological leader in undersea drone technology.

Designers chose the Eel design because it has the ideal shape and conserves the most energy. They are also less detectable.

“Anguilliform [eel like] fish consume less energy when on a long distance journey than regular autonomous underwater vehicles,” Xu told Defense One. “They are highly maneuverable and flexible, making them more suitable than Gliders for navigating small spaces… The noiseless propulsion is another advantage” for the military, he says. “They’re less detectable than robot subs that propel themselves the same way as conventional subs.”

So is this the future of Warfare, ATS? The article even goes on to say that NASA is even considering SnakeBots for future Mars missions because of its undulating ability; which can be adapted for land or water. SnakeBots.......Who'a thunk-it?!

www.defenseone.com...

a reply to: lostbook

#ing hydrobots........its like we want Skynet to take over.

Hawking and others are right, we're boned.

Save the engineers and science nerds, we are gonna need em.

That's starting to become clear.

originally posted by: lostbook
...or attack underwater divers.

As a person who likes to dive, this freaked me out. What if they go haywire? Think of a couple of drones, out at sea for months, salt water corroding their electronics forcing them to act erratically attacking anything in sight.

I'd hate to be diving on a shallow wreck and seeing one of these "eels" slither up in attack mode... Ugh, seriously nightmare fuel!