Ghost Shark and Manta Ray protect the undersea realm. Sounds like the plot of a future Marvel movie, but in actual fact, it’s what could be the future of Pacific naval defenses.
Ghost Shark and Manta Ray are the names of prototype uncrewed underwater vehicles – UUVs or drones – introduced recently by Australia and the United States respectively.
Experts say the submersibles could represent the future of undersea warfare, showing the ability to exert power while minimizing the danger to human life.
The use of drones in aerial warfare has become commonplace. The US used them extensively during conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning in the 1990s, and newer, cheaper drones have become key pieces of military hardware for both sides in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kyiv has also built naval surface drones, which have inflicted heavy losses on the much larger and more expensive ships of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Aerial and surface sea drones can be controlled using satellites and light and radio waves. But those don’t function in the same way in the depths.
