Free Republic

Daniel Kochis @dankochis Senior Policy Analyst, European AffairsDaniel is a senior policy analyst for European affairs in the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.Russia’s wartime arsenal now appears to include sabotage of underwater pipelines.On Monday, authorities in Europe noticed a sudden drop in pressure in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream II natural gas pipelines, which connect Russia with Germany. Since that time, a total of three leaks (two in NS1 and one in NS2) across both pipelines have been found. Seismologists in Denmark registered explosions in the area measuring around 2.1 and 2.3 on the Richter scale.The leaks are in...

The Ministry of Defense's weapons development administration (Mafat) is targeting a global market worth $2 billion annually. The Ministry of Defense's Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure (Mafat) has set the next challenge for Israel's defense industry: do for unmanned submarines what it did for unmanned aerial warfare. If the defense industry moves quickly and purposefully in identifying this emerging market, and offers a well-functioning unmanned submarine, it could be riding the right wave in a decade from now: Mafat aeronautics division director Dr. Yuval Cohen estimates that the market will be worth $2 billion a year...

Homeland Security to deploy underwater drones that mimic tuna fish With even gossip magazines being (falsely) accused of wanting to deploy aerial drones, it seems like the only place you might be able to escape robotic scrutiny would be somewhere far off at sea. Turns out: not true. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has funded a new underwater robot that can find you even in your underwater lair. The BIOSwimmer was developed by Boston Engineering Corporation's Advanced Systems Group (ASG) as an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) modeled after the shape and swimming mechanics of a tuna fish. According to...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The fast-attack submarine USS Scranton (SSN 756) successfully demonstrated homing and docking of an Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) system during at-sea testing in January 2006. The two UUVs used in the testing are a part of the AN/BLQ-11 Long Term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS), which was designed to enable submarines to conduct clandestine undersea surveys to locate mines. “The testing demonstrated several important capabilities of a submarine-launched UUV system,” said Capt. Paul D. Ims Jr., program manager for UUVs in the Program Executive Office for Littoral and Mine Warfare. “These included the ability of the submarine...