Rutgers’s “remotely piloted” submarine RU27, made by Teledyne Webb Research, crossed the Atlantic #underwater in 221 days in 02009 under battery power by adjusting its buoyancy by adjusting an electrically operated piston, surfacing every 8 hours to check in with Iridium and GPS, despite hundreds of gooseneck barnacles attaching to it on the way. #narcosubs #drones
on 02026-04-22H. I. Sutton's "Covert Shores" on #narcosubs etc. #toread
on 02025-11-11#narcosubs #news: “#Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with #Starlink antenna” owned by the Gulf Clan and with no crew, although in India a Starlink-steered vessel was seized in November with US$4.25 billion (!!) of meth
on 02025-11-11#news #video from a week ago about #narcosubs in Galicia, saying three have been found but maybe 30 got through since the first one was found in 02019, saying thermal imaging cameras are among the best tools for detection; mentions “unmanned #drones” in a possible future.
on 02025-05-15#video on #narcosubs, which supposedly cost US$1–2 million each; cites the first famous 02006 capture of one. Diesel-powered, generally 12–20m, 3–12 tonnes of cargo, human or remotely operated. Some have executed trans-Atlantic crossings to, for example, Galicia. Shitty #Megaprojects video with talking heads, stock photos, and stock footage. In 02020 an electric one was found with 10 tonnes of batteries, but probably would be towed by a surface ship for most of its distance. US Coast Guard estimates that it captures 10% of narcosubs.
on 02024-08-28