Editors' Pick|Sep 8, 2021,08:00am EDT
The Pentagon’s Robot Warship Just Fired Its First Missile
David Axe
USV 'Ranger' fires an SM-6. U.S. Defense Department
One of the U.S. Defense Department’s two prototype robot warships just fired its first missile.
The military on Friday hailed the test-launch of an SM-6 missile from the Unmanned Surface Vessel Ranger, sailing off the California coast, as “game-changing.”
It’s one thing for an unmanned vessel to launch a missile, however. It’s quite another for the same vessel autonomously to find and fix targets.
The real “game-changer” will come when Ranger or another USV plugs into a wide-ranging command-and-control and data network—one that works in the stress of battle.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/09/08/the-pentagons-robot-warships-just-fired-their-first-missiles/?sh=1210313f3c78
