On Fri, 2023-04-07 at 13:29 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote: > Warfare may experience a sea change in a few decades, when the AUKUS > submarines are confronted by swarms of drones. > [...] > However, a wily enemy may choose not to sink the AUKUS submarines, > but instead hold them, and their crews, hostage.
Sea change indeed. But our (as yet non-existent) submarines and their weaponry will not stay as they are, and will not remain vulnerable to these (as yet essentially non-existent) drones. If such drones do turn up, submarines *will* develop ways to deal with them. This will only happen when those fighting the last war have been killed, or replaced with slightly cleverer people. And of course, thousands of tons of expensive hardware will be sunk, thousands of lives will be lost, and absolutely nothing whatsoever will be gained by any of the participants, but no imbalance can last for long. I've no idea what countermeasures might arise, but they might include submarines being able to launch their own drone swarms, or being permanently accompanied by a protective done "convoy", or new forms of camouflage... and maybe even new ways to destroy things underwater. What fun! And GREAT for the economy! Nothing stays the same for long except human stupidity, which reaches its apotheosis not (as many believe) in politics, but in war. Regards, K. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Karl Auer ([email protected]) http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
