This is kind of neat in a wow-they-can-do-that? sort of way:
DARPA, the Pentagon’s research agency, has recently revealed its plans to boost the Navy’s response to threats in international waters by developing submerged unmanned platforms that can be deployed at a moment’s notice.
Hydra, named after the serpent-like creature with many heads in Greek mythology, would create an undersea network of unmanned payloads and platforms to increase the capability and speed the response to threats like piracy, the rising number of ungoverned states, and sophisticated defenses at a time when the Pentagon is forced to make budget cuts. According to DARPA, the Hydra system ”represents a cost effective way to add undersea capacity that can be tailored to support each mission” that would still allow the Navy to conduct special operations and contingency missions. In other words, the decreasing number of naval vessels can only be in one place at a time.
If the only thing we envision the Navy doing is destroying things, why bother with Hydra? Why not just build more Air Force assets to fly over said object and put a missile in it?
Silly me, if we don't have enough hulls to patrol the worlds' oceans, I thought it would make more sense to build cheaper ships so we can have a high-low mix to get the number of ships we need to patrol the world's oceans and have the ships to fight high-end enemies. And if we really need cheap numbers, why not modular auxiliary cruisers to take on those pirates and ungoverned states that aren't known for advanced anti-ship missiles?
Build less capable ships for lesser missions? Nah! Pour money into some exotic replacement for ships rather than building enough ships! Hydra? Screw that. Call this program Siren.
This will work out just swell!
