Watch a Navy robot submarine launch a drone

"The Unmanned surface vehicle/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle combination gives the former the ability to increase its surveillance capabilities when a desired contact is acoustically detected," said Matthew Hipple, a Defense writer and naval officer. "This saves perishable surveillance assets until they are best utilized, and decrease the exposure of surveillance assets to detection." A floating robot that can launch a flying robot exactly when it needs to means that the flying robot can be a lot cheaper than if it has to be airborne all the time, and therefore if it's lost to weather or enemy fire, it's less of an expense, and there will likely be cheap replacements on hand.