Submarines are widely regarded as one of the ocean's top military predator thanks to its various underwater capabilities. Radar, Sonar, and other detection mechanisms have, in the past, been proved futile against submarines. However, the Chinese military has recently stated that they may soon be able to implement a new weapon system that can efficiently detect and destroy enemy submarines.
For several years, many military analysts have pointed out China's lack of anti-submarine implementations. Most critical of this is the United States Department of Defense report in 2016 stating that China's military lacks coastal and deep water anti-submarine capabilities. While this might be true to some extent, China has modeled its naval capabilities in such a way that it will deter possible attackers from getting access to its shorelines.
However, because of these limitations, China was motivated to develop new technologies in order to aid its aim of fortifying its coastlines. The People's Liberation Army Navy has started to deploy bigger and more advanced ships. This was a fundamental strategy as China starts to venture further into the open sea.
With the adoption of larger ships also comes a far bigger target for enemy submarines. This is the hard truth that drove China to develop newer technologies in order to hunt and destroy enemy submarines.
A recent report claimed that China has already started on a new project which relies heavily on artificial intelligence in order to counter submarines. A report from the South China Morning Post claims that China is on the developmental process of creating "large, smart and relatively low-cost unmanned submarines." These submarines have the capabilities to roam the entire ocean, completely unmanned, and perform a wide range of military actions.
The report also suggested that these unmanned submarines are not intended to replace currently manned submarines. The report added that these submarines are not designed to make autonomous attack decisions, in essence, they are not sentient in nature. A military officer is still needed in order to approve any attack decisions that the submarine might make.
Although these unmanned submarines are entirely a novel idea, China has already adopted the same concept albeit on a much smaller scale. China has already deployed several small unmanned underwater vehicles. However, unlike the unmanned submarines, these small underwater vehicles have a limited range and only carry limited amounts of ordinance. They are also launched for a separate ship or submarine.
