[LINK] Uncrewed submarines as ocean becomes ‘transparent’

[Karl Auer]

On Fri, 2023-04-07 at 13:29 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote:
> Warfare may experience a sea change in a few decades, when the AUKUS 
> submarines are confronted by swarms of drones.
> [...]
> However, a wily enemy may choose not to sink the AUKUS submarines,
> but instead hold them, and their crews, hostage.

Sea change indeed. But our (as yet non-existent) submarines and their
weaponry will not stay as they are, and will not remain vulnerable to
these (as yet essentially non-existent) drones.

If such drones do turn up, submarines *will* develop ways to deal with
them. This will only happen when those fighting the last war have been
killed, or replaced with slightly cleverer people. And of course,
thousands of tons of expensive hardware will be sunk, thousands of
lives will be lost, and absolutely nothing whatsoever will be gained by
any of the participants, but no imbalance can last for long.

I've no idea what countermeasures might arise, but they might include
submarines being able to launch their own drone swarms, or being
permanently accompanied by a protective done "convoy", or new forms of
camouflage... and maybe even new ways to destroy things underwater.
What fun! And GREAT for the economy!

Nothing stays the same for long except human stupidity, which reaches
its apotheosis not (as many believe) in politics, but in war.

Regards, K.

-- 
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Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer