Uncrewed Titon sub can also sail and sink ships

For anyone interested in the policing of the world’s shipping lanes, or just in war tech, this short film above the fold on the WSJ’s home page is a must-watch. It’s about an uncrewed US military mini-sub called the Triton which can raise a rigid wing-like sail, lower it to dive, and stay at sea for three months at a time. It can sink ships as well as spy on them, but it doesn’t need human supervision even to tell it when to dive. On-board computers assess any threats and can do that thinking by themselves. We’re told the US is already using the Triton to keep an eye on Iranian maritime movements – presumably in the Gulf – but its maker, a Mississippi firm called Ocean Aero, has just visited Taiwan with a view to selling dozens of drone subs to help deter a Chinese invasion for which Xi Jinping wants his forces to be ready by 2017. Two questions: when will war become a pure battle of machines with no human lives at stake? Also, how can news organisations make videos about military hardware feel less like ads?