Julie Levesque: American Drones for Covert Underwater Warfare against Iran.

Obscuring the devastating effects of US drones killing innocent civilians around the world, it is with a touch of rather inappropriate humor and enthusiasm that the military consulting company Strike Fighter Consulting speaks highly of the US Navy's new Unmanned Underwater Vehicles in its recently published article, Unmanned Drones Take to the Seas: "It looks like drone pilots are going to need swimming lessons. The US Navy is currently experimenting with a new breed of drone submarines in the waters next to Newport, Rhode Island. Their hope is that these drones will take the first steps, or the first doggy paddle, if you will, into a future of autonomous submarines: These drones, which are technically known as Unmanned Underwater Vehicles,could be a game changer for the Navy, said Christopher Egan, a program manager at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. Every single thing that makes aerial drones so effective, can just as easily be applied to submarines. (Dabney B Unmanned Drones take to the Seas, Strike Fighter Consulting Inc, September 19, 2012, emphasis added.) What kind of efficiency are we talking about here? Drone warfare has been most efficient in killing innocent civilians, including children, according to a study by Stanford University and New York University: According to the new study, just one in fifty victims of the CIA program of targeted drone strikes in Pakistan's areas are known militants, while between 2,562 and 3,325 people were killed in Pakistan between June 2004 and mid September this year of whom between 474 were civilians, including 176 children. We are told that these new cost efficient underwater drones could be used to map the ocean floor, detect enemy mines, gather surveillance, or assist in anti-submarine warfare. The Navy hopes that the Razor would be virtually undetectable by enemy systems.