The US Army has been seeking ways to improve its logistics capabilities and is exploring the deployment of underwater robotic vehicles in resupply missions.
The service is currently conducting research with commercially available solutions to evaluate their performance carrying diverse types of payloads.
The use of autonomous systems is intended to provide the army with additional distribution options as well as alternative routes in contested scenarios.
During a press conference at the AUSA 2023 event in Washington DC, Katherine Brodie, research oceanographer at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), stressed that this approach can provide operational advantages.