UXV Combatant Warship Made for Drone Battles Heralds Robot Apocalypse

[mrdahonay]

Here's the UXV Combatant, a new class of warship being developed by BAE Systems to fight in the drone wars. BAE believes that the future battlefield will be full of intelligent robots fighting against each other, probably until they realize they can join together to eliminate all humans from Earth. The ship looks and specs, expected to enter service past 2020, look terrifying:

The 8,000-tonne carrier is designed "to launch, operate and recover large numbers of small unmanned vehicles for extended periods" that will operate in land, sea and air. According to BAE, it will have:

Flexible and efficient twin flight decks
Variable ski jump
Rotary aviation facilities
Below-deck hangar
Smart munitions

For power, the UXV Combatant could be able to use "full integrated electrical propulsion with twin propeller shafts/motors supplied by gas turbine and diesel alternators. Alternatively, cruising power can be supplied by two shafts/motors and diesel alternators with boost power from one gas turbine driving two water jets."

Great. I don't have a clue about what they are talking about, but I'm ordering my nuclear shelter. Now.

(from here)