As U.S. military planners and policymakers continue to develop strategies for a potential conflict with China, the U.S. Navy has taken steps to develop a family of highly adaptable drone attack boats.
In July, the Navy released a solicitation for its Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) program. The accompanying program documents describe a potential family of unmanned vessels that can deploy with a variety of weapons and specialized gear that can all fit into standardized shipping containers.
The new drone boat program comes at a time when U.S. shipyard output is falling behind China’s, and as U.S. planners have been troubled by the results of wargames studying conflict scenarios with Beijing….