Yeah, I've read in the past some busts of big drug submarines, but I think having some small drone subs would make much more sense:
1. Unlike air drones, relatively small sub drones would be much more difficult to spot and intercept. The ocean is already filled with a lot of stuff like fish, so it seems like it would be relatively easy to camouflage.
2. One lost drone is a relatively small loss vs. having a big sub get intercepted and lose millions worth of product.
3. Now sure how big of a battery you'd need. Curious how long, say, a 2 mile long swim by a small sub would require in kWh.
The issue is range, as you hint at with your last point. Because of how hydrodynamics works, big ships/subs are more efficient than small ones, and so it's relatively hard to make a small sub with enough range to be useful (or even enough thrust to reliably make progress in the open ocean).
1. Unlike air drones, relatively small sub drones would be much more difficult to spot and intercept. The ocean is already filled with a lot of stuff like fish, so it seems like it would be relatively easy to camouflage.
2. One lost drone is a relatively small loss vs. having a big sub get intercepted and lose millions worth of product.
3. Now sure how big of a battery you'd need. Curious how long, say, a 2 mile long swim by a small sub would require in kWh.