The US military have christened a drone warship that can operate autonomously hunting for submarines and mines at sea “Sea Hunter” is a major advance in robotic warfare designed to cruise the ocean’s surface for two or three months at a time – without a crew or anyone controlling it remotely. The Washington Post reports: Senior defense officials christened Thursday a 130-foot unmanned trimaran in Portland, Ore. The oddly shaped ship is called Sea Hunter and is the centerpiece of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The christening marks a new step for the program, which enters testing this summer off the coast of San Diego and is managed jointly with the Office of Naval Research. If all goes well, the vessel could become part of the Navy in 2018, defense officials said. DARPA next-generation unmanned surface vessel being christened this morning in Portland. pic.twitter.com/GW8nLszPJF — DARPA (@DARPA) April 7, 2016 The ship’s allure is in its independence. The Pentagon envisions it being able to travel thousands of miles at a time on its own, undertaking missions up to a month long with minimal interaction with humans. Defense [...]