The U.S. Navy's Underwater Drones
The Navy is building drones to fight underwater enemies
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Underwater mines are lurking in critical waterways around the world. Low-tech but highly destructive, they can blow up ships, destroy oil and natural gas pipelines, and wipe out international telephone and Internet cables.
By U.S. Navy estimates, some 50 countries stock more than 250,000 maritime mines that could be dropped in the world’s oceans. Naval analysts believe China has the most extensive and sophisticated inventory of mines. If Iran had shut down the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year, as it threatened, its strategy likely would have involved deploying its stockpile of mines.