Just walking around the Gulfport harbor on the weekend– back when it was 70 degrees just a week ago– and spied this, now increasingly familiar, scene: an Ocean Aero Triton Autonomous Underwater and Surface Vehicle (AUSV), with its recycled USCG 26ft RB-S chase boat (note the red showing through on the sides) and the replica of the old Ship Island lighthouse on the west horizon. The new (post-Katrina) Coast Guard station is to the left.
(Photo by Chris Eger)
Ocean Aero is based at the port, nestled in among the banana boat facilities, and tests its production Triton AUSVs from the harbor before packing them up for delivery.
They typically run them 2 at a time, which leaves open the possibility of drone boat races? I think they should keep that in mind. I grew up with the submarine races in Pascagoula back when Ingalls was making Sturgeon-class hunter-killers and that was a blast.