US Robotic Submarine Hunter Completes First Tests at Sea

DEFENSE AND TECHNOLOGY -- The ocean's newest predator, a robotic ship designed to help the U.S. military hunt enemy submarines, has completed its first tests at sea.

Called the "Sea Hunter," the 132-foot (40 meters) unmanned vessel is still getting its figurative sea legs, but the performance tests off the coast of San Diego have steered the project on a course to enter the U.S. Navy's fleet by 2018, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing new technologies for the military.

The Sea Hunter "surpassed all performance objectives for speed, maneuverability, stability, seakeeping, acceleration/deceleration and fuel consumption," representatives from Leidos, the company developing the Sea Hunter, said in a statement.

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