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The US Navy is developing a robot submarine that is controlled by artificial intelligence that could kill without human control or input.

The project is being run by the Office of Naval Research and has been described as an 'autonomous undersea weapon system' according to a report by New Scientist.

Details of the killer submersibles were made available as part of the 2020 budget documents, which also revealed it has been named CLAWS by the US Navy.

Very few details about the 'top secret' project have been revealed beyond the fact it will use sensors and algorithms to carry out complex missions on its own.

It's expected CLAWS will be installed on the new Orca class robot submarines that have 12 torpedo tubes and are being developed for the Navy by Boeing.



Over the next few years, the firm will design and test four Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (XLUUVs) based on its autonomous Echo Voyager (pictured), which can operate at sea for months at a time.
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The navy has not revealed what CLAWS stands for or commented on the story, the only information is what has been released to congress in the budget documents.

Autonomous submarines already exist and they can complete tasks without humans being involved - however they aren't very intelligent and have limited functionality.

Anything more complex than a simple location task would require a human operator to work via a remote communications link.

The new submarines will have much greater level of artificial intelligence and so be able to perform a wider range of functions without a human controller.

CLAWS isn't new, it was first revealed in 2018 as part of a US Navy bid to 'improve the autonomy and survivability of large and extra-large unmanned underwater vehicles', according to New Scientist.

When it was first revealed there was no mention then of weapons being on the autonomous submersible, only a need for it to have sensors and make decisions.

The US Navy has ordered larger, longer range robot submarines called Orca and it was assumed they would be controlled remotely like the smaller versions.

They are set to be armed with 12 torpedo tubes and with CLAWS they could be used to sink targets on their own without input from a human, New Scientist reports.



Boeing has developed the Orca submarines for the Navy based on its Echo Voyager class of craft. It is assumed the CLAWS AI system will be added to Orca subs.
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Quote:This idea isn't to everyone's liking. Stuart Russell from the University of California Berkeley told New Scientist it was a 'dangerous development.

'Equipping a fully autonomous vehicle with lethal weapons is a significant step, and one that risks accidental escalation in a way that does not apply to sea mines.'


The exact budget for CLAWS hasn't been revealed but it was allocated $26 million in this years US Navy budget  and another $23 million for next year.

It will move from being an idea to a working prototype thanks to this extra funding and could be deployed on large robot submarines by 2022, says New Scientist.

While little is known about CLAWS, more information is available on the Orca submarines that could house it.


Quote:‘The Orca will have well-defined interfaces for the potential of implementing cost-effective upgrades in future increments to leverage advances in technology and respond to threat changes,' the Navy said.

‘The Orca will have a modular payload bay, with defined interfaces to support current and future payloads for employment from the vehicle.’





https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...gence.html