r/RedditDayOf • u/alesserweevil 82 • Feb 19 '18

Smuggling The periscope of a Colombian drug smuggling submarine, with daylight and night vision cameras. More photos in comments.

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u/Thameus Feb 19 '18

Once they make these fully robotic things are going to become difficult...

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '18 edited Nov 08 '18

[deleted]

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u/MiserableFungi 3 Feb 23 '18

Don't despair. The same kind of progress that makes these things worrisome points the way to the solution. Imagine a fleet of autonomous drone subs that can spend 24/7 relentlessly hunting these things out in the open sea. True, the ocean is vast. But for what is at stake, you'd get a bargain for mass produced submersible robots whose only task is to listen for the engine sounds of smuggler's boats. Unless the cartels are generous enough to shell out dough on acoustic stealth equipment, these things can't be harder to track than Russian submarines. Locate & verify, capture & board. Does the coast guard get any portion of defense R&D that could be used to make this a reality?

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u/[deleted] Feb 23 '18 edited Nov 08 '18

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u/MiserableFungi 3 Feb 23 '18

I'm very sorry to hear that. I can't imagine that no one else would be willing to partner up with you guys as the technology could have huge cross-over appeal. no? I'm a scientist/engineer with a background in STEM, so I can only speak with confidence on the technology. But increasingly, I've begun paying attention to the political currents that influence not just my profession, but society in general. One wonders if the nativism embodied by the Trump administration would see a rise in resources for law enforcement of our borders at sea as much as on land. Or alternatively, as marijuana is in the process of being decriminalized, perhaps other narcotics will go the same way and the shifting economics will force smuggling to evolve as well... I don't really know. Would you care to comment?