The commander of the US Central Command, General Michael Corella, announced at a conference in Bahrain on Saturday that a force dedicated to unmanned systems in the Gulf will deploy more than 100 ships running in the waters of the strategic area by next year.
Corella was speaking after Israel and the United States accused Iran this week of what it described as a drone attack on an oil tanker run by a company owned by an Israeli businessman loaded with fuel off Oman.
The attack is the latest in a series of accidents in the oil -rich area amid escalating tensions between the two archenemy and Washington and Tehran also caused accidents between their naval forces.
Corella said at the annual “Manama Dialogue” conference “by this time next year, the power of 59 fleet will be deployed with more than 100 ships above the surface of the (sea) and under it uninhabited, working and communicating together.
The force -59 was launched in September 2021 in Bahrain, the Fifth Fleet headquarters, with the aim of integrating unmanned systems and artificial intelligence into the Middle East operations after a series of drones against ships in which it was blamed on Iran.
Corella said that in addition to unmanned ships, the United States “adopts a pilot program here in the Middle East to overcome drones with our partners,” without additional details.
“As drone technology advances, (the development) of our enemies may be the largest technology threat to regional security,” the American general added..
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