back to article Don't panic, US Navy has only deployed a ROBOT SHARK (but where are the lasers?)

The US Navy has shown off the first images of its latest aqua-drone: a five-foot-long robot shark that's been swimming off the shores of Virginia. The Navy's robot shark at rest GhostSwimmer at rest Dubbed GhostSwimmer, the 100lb machine (in Navy-speak, an AUV or autonomous underwater vehicle) is capable of swimming in …

  1. Gordon 10

    Shark?

    Looks more like a baby whale to me

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Autonomous Military Robot sharks

    What could possibly go wrong?

    Has anyone checked to see if Sarah Connor is still alive recently? Could be important...

  3. FrankAlphaXII

    Calling Dr. Evil

    Y'know, they did Laser Beams last week. They seem to enjoy blowing up parts of Boghammars with them

    Now they just have to put them together.

    I wonder why the US Navy has decided to source people from the Dr. Evil School of Naval Warfare.

  4. User McUser

    For the outer design, the Navy plumped for a shark-like shape, for reasons known only to itself.

    I'd imagine that sharks probably go fairly unmolested in the seas, what with the teeth and all. So I'll wager that they're trying to deter people and animals from messing with the thing during missions.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Terminator

      ...also because it's the military. No way are they going to model the look on a harmless fish when they can make it look like a lean mean killing machine. And despite any public comments about how it will be used and current plans, there WILL be people in the navy considing how to weaponise it.

      1. GBE

        Tuna _are_ lean, mean, killing machines.

        > No way are they going to model the look on a harmless fish when they can make it look like a lean mean killing machine.

        Tuna can swim 75km/h and are very active, efficient and deadly predators. They are just as much lean, mean, killing machines as are sharks. They just don't happen to mistakenly attack H. sapiens the way sharks do. ;)

        I'm not sure being attacked by a 2m tuna would be much better than being attacked by a 2m shark...

    2. Blahman

      That and the fact that if it even gets spotted by sight it will just be dismissed as a cuddly shark.

    3. Triggerfish

      Shark bodies tend to vary between flexible which is very maneuverable requiem sharks like blacktips, and stiffer bodied (like tuna and marlin bodies) mackerel sharks (great white, longimanus) it alters their swimming style. So it would seem shark shape is pretty efficient and is similar to Tuna's swimming motions if its the stiffer movement shape plus being more torpedo shaped it might be more space efficient than a tuna shape.

      If you see some in the water when snorkeling or diving so you can get a really good look they tend to be pretty graceful and move with real economy of motion seems a sensible shape to me.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @ User McUser:

      Don't use that drone off the coast of China, or you'll get it back with the fins cut off!!

    5. A Known Coward

      ... also because Sharks will naturally swim very close to land (litoral waters), at or near the surface of the water in addition to deeper waters further from the coast - all required for that essential surveillance role. Seeing a Tuna swimming just off a beach or within a harbour would immediately look out of place. Their characteristic fin projects above the water for extended periods, perfect for a camera to grab clear unobstructed shots.

      A shark is large enough to carry all the equipment and batteries, but not so large that it can't slip through, or around anti-submarine and anti-torpedo nets.

      They could have chosen a dolphin, but that is itself problematic as navies around the world have been training Dolphins to carry out surveillance and plant mines for decades. A lone dolphin swimming around your military vessels and ports would warrant close scrutiny.

  5. Mark 85

    Why the shark?

    Simples... they also want a frikkin laser.

    There's also probably symbology.. sharks never sleep and are dangerous.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Re: Why the shark?

      Or if they ever combine the navy shark drone with a navy laser turret, everyone seeing it swim by will simply shrug and think it makes perfect sense!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Terminator

    They need to set that video of the shark drone to the theme from Jaws

    Or maybe the Terminator theme? I'm so confused!!

  7. Hero Protagonist

    From the air or from the water

    All they need now is an ABV (Autonomous Burrowing Vehicle) and they'll be able to get you anywhere.

    1. Alan Stewart
      Joke

      Re: From the air or from the water

      Would that be to get into secretive organisations - as a mole?

  8. The Morgan Doctrine

    LASERS DONT WORK UNDER WATER

    Not to get in the way of a spiffy Brit headline, but lasers don't work under water.

    1. NotArghGeeCee

      Re: LASERS DONT WORK UNDER WATER

      "...Not to get in the way of a spiffy Brit headline..."

      You're new here, aren't you?

    2. Neil Barnes Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: LASERS DONT WORK UNDER WATER

      They work perfectly well - in every respect apart from delivering significant energy to a distant target.

      Blue light goes furthest, as I recall, so that must couple least energy to seawater.

    3. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: LASERS DONT WORK UNDER WATER

      Lasers work just fine underwater...provided you have a sufficiently large laser. Then you're simply turning the water into plasma and creating both a shockwave and cavitation weapon.

  9. Avatar of They
    Happy

    Does it need more guns?

    As for weapons, surely just make it explode. It can simply swim right up against another harbour, boat etc and then detonate below the water line?

    What could it wield that would sink an enemy ship etc

    1. Peter Clarke 1
      Mushroom

      Re: Does it need more guns?

      If it deploys limpet mines then they could only be named Ramoras.

      Obvious icon

  10. Bloakey1

    Dolphins were first.

    Do not forget that real dolphins have been used for years by the U.S. military and couple that with the new comer, the sea lion and you have a multi purpose unit. Dolphins do open water, harbours etc. sea lions can lurk around jetties and the like. Sea lions are well know for their superb underwater vision and their huge bitey steel tipped teeth.

    The good old Russian bear used to have killer dolphins but they sold them to Iran when they closed down their own marine animal facility. I fear that those dolphins they sold would have ended up on an Al Quds barbeque in the form of steaks by now.

    Why has nobody gratuitously not mentioned Flipper, Lassy or Skippy come to that, put lasers on all of them and "cry havoc and let slip the cetacean / canine / marsupial, dolphin / dogs / kangaroos of war"

    Interestingly and topically, the Russian dolphin program was passed to Ukraine but due to recent land grabs it is once again the Russians that are in charge of the Dolphin program.

    See below for the U.S. program:

    http://www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Pacific/71500/Pages/default.aspx

    See below for hi tech alternatives by the Taliban et. al.:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal-borne_bomb_attacks

    1. Bob Wheeler
      Pint

      Another QoTW?

      "kangaroos of war"

      Have a beer on me.

      1. SteveK
        1. Bloakey1

          Re: Another QoTW?

          "See also: http://www.snopes.com/humor/nonsense/kangaroo.asp"

          Fantastic.

          Thank you kind sir, you have made my day.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It may be the wedge shape and broad fins of the shark

    are better as planes for diving and ascending in a smaller space, rather than the tuna, which is streamlined for speed in open water.

    But most likely that for inshore operations, a shark is more easily dismissed than a fast oceanic fish like a tuna; not many tuna wander in and loiter around busy harbours.

  12. Little Mouse
    Pirate

    The Iron Fish

    If only there was room on-board for a plucky young scamp who could use it as a force for good, catching smugglers, exploring mysterious islands, etc.

    1. Bloakey1

      Re: The Iron Fish

      "If only there was room on-board for a plucky young scamp who could use it as a force for good, catching smugglers, exploring mysterious islands, etc."

      But that would be sexist in this day and age. It would be best to have two older boys and two younger girls, one of which would have to be a lesbian. Add to the mix a lovable dog and they could be the scourge of gypsies, awful cockneys and foreigners throughout the land or even the Spanish Main(1.).

      Perhaps if they had an aunt called Pudenda and perhaps one of the boys could be called Pudendum, they could be full of spunk and they could have such jolly japes.

      Wow ! I am feeling jolly batey at this point, I am off for a ginger beer. That Steven Fry fellow had better watch out!!!

      1. Our lovely Edith inculcated into us that they were the rum coves "wot did it".

  13. Chris 239

    Ltitle Mouse & Bloakey have an upvote for the Tintin and the Famous Five references respectively!

  14. JaitcH
    Happy

    Great! The US Navy emulates nature and ...

    now the South American drug growers can emulate the Navy!

    Way to go!

  15. Milo Tsukroff
    Coat

    Got that title slightly wrong...

    The new Register format is definitely taxing the staff, and the title for this article is not up to snuff. It's supposed to be, "(But where are the _frikken_ lasers?)" Dr. Evil and all that....

    I'll get me coat...

  16. Jonathan Richards 1
    Go

    A bit splashy

    One big advantage of fish-like propulsion is that it will make a noise in the water a lot like a fish (and not a lot of it); propellors are not found in nature, and make a very distinctive noise. I noticed from the video, though, that at the surface, GhostSwimmer is inclined to make splashes with its caudal fin; I've never seen a real shark do that when just cruising around, probably simply because splashing wastes energy. For a stealthy AUV, this needs to be ironed out.

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