The Navy's Unmanned Surface Ship and Submarine Program Posted on 7/3/2019 at 23:17:39 by Bill Crawford, (14)
The below-linked Congressional Research Service report discusses the Navy's plans for procuring large unmanned surface ships and submarines, commencing in 2020.
As indicated in the below excerpt, the main utilization of the unmanned surface ships will be for anti-ship operations and force projection.
"..The LUSV program is a proposed new start project for FY2020. The Navy wants to procure two LUSVs per year in FY2020- FY2024. The Navy wants LUSVs to be low-cost, high-endurance, reconfigurable ships based on commercial ship designs, with ample capacity for carrying various modular payloads—particularly anti-surface warfare (ASuW) and strike payloads, meaning principally anti-ship and land-attack missiles. The Navy reportedly envisions LUSVs as being 200 feet to 300 feet in length and having a full load displacement of about 2,000 tons..."
What isn't discussed is how these unmanned surface ships will defend themselves.
