OUTSIDE THE BOX: Marines Test ‘Narco Sub’ With An Eye On War With China.

Taking creative inspiration from Latin American drug traffickers, the United States Marines Corps is testing low-profile “narco subs” intended for potential use in the Indo-Pacific theater. The Marines have another term and — of course — an acronym for the concept: the Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel (ALVP) program.

The unmanned vessel being tested by II Marine Expeditionary Force is called the “Sea Specter,” and it’s produced by Gibbs & Cox, is a subsidiary of Reston, VA-based Leidos. “I think that it’s OK to say that those narco subs inspired the concept, but that’s where the similarities end,” Gibbs & Cox chief engineering officer Jeff Bowles told Defense One. “Narco subs are dirty. They’re dangerous. They’re not engineered. But in principle, their mission is the same — move a large volume of cargo with the minimal chance of being observed by anyone else.”
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While the program’s current emphasis is on logistics missions, the vessels could have a variety of uses. “This thing could loiter in a prescribed area for a very extended duration,” Bowles said, suggesting they could facilitate communications. “It could also form a picket line to look for intruders. You could line these up, you know, and look for human trafficking, or any type of people encroaching on U.S. territory. These things have the endurance to sit there.”

Historically, the Marines have done more with less, so a cheap, narco-inspired cargo vessel isn’t as crazy as it sounds.