Pentagon Plans Sea Drone Fleet for Possible China War

The Pentagon is embarking on a $1 billion program to build an armada of remote-controlled killer sea drones. The effort is the first phase of the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Replicator Initiative to build thousands of autonomous war-ready vehicles as tools to “deter conflict and, if deterrence fails, to fight and win the war,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said last month. The announcement comes amid concerns in Washington, D.C., over a potential future attack against Taiwan by China, which the DoD considers a “pacing challenge.” The U.S. is the self-ruled island’s main arms supplier, but it maintains a…