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U.S. Surface Drone Task Force Will Help Deter Iran
(Al-Monitor) Jared Szuba - The U.S. Fifth Fleet's Task Force 59 in Bahrain, which has been experimenting with unmanned surface drones to help surveil the region's waterways since October 2021, is now fully operational, Fleet commander Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said Tuesday. The Navy has approved a plan to have officers in charge of squadrons of unmanned vessels paired with manned ships. "When you start to connect two or three [surface drones] with an escort, you essentially can create a radar barrier about 100 miles wide," Cooper said. "You're going to see everything." Data from the task force's 20 AI-linked sea drones can already be displayed on the main screen in Fifth Fleet's Maritime Operations Center in real time. Navy officials claim the drones are already beginning to have a deterrent effect on IRGC activity. Cooper said he expects additional basing hubs to be established in the region, and for Middle Eastern navies to acquire and deploy 80 U.S. surface and underwater drones by this summer.