Drone boats appear to be on the cusp of a revolution.

The U.S. Navy’s Task Force 59 has been pairing cuttingedge unmanned surface vehicles with artificial intelligence to expand the military’s eyes and ears in the Middle East. Now, similar efforts will be rolled out in the Pacific and Central and South America.

The military’s objective is to leverage machine learning to detect and anticipate threats before they occur. Experts say the U.S. is currently the leader in this field, but competitors like China and Russia are racing to catch up.

I traveled to Manama, Bahrain to see the hightech drones in action and speak to officials about how they’re preparing for a future with robots in the world’s waters.

0:00 A rare look at the U.S. Navy’s drone boat operation
0:30 Meet the Navy’s Task Force 59
2:14 Drone boat capabilities
4:05 How artificial intelligence is layered with the drone boats
5:11 The global race to advance unmanned marine vehicles
7:23 What’s next for the U.S. military?

Check out more from my exclusive interview with Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval forces in the Middle East, about unmanned vessels and the Navy’s future fleet:    • Drone Boats, AI and the Future of Mar...  

I’m Shelby Holliday, a reporter for WSJ. Subscribe to join me as I explain some of today's most pressing geopolitical events, from superpower showdowns and conflicts to supply chain snarls and natural resource struggles.

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