"Ready, fire, aim!" has never had much of a positive connotation, either in financial or military circles, but the Navy's newest weapon could be changing that, at least somewhat. The Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), set to replace the service's 40-year-old Harpoon missile, takes a technological step forward in long-range strikes, using sensors and on-board artificial intelligence to let a target's own defenses work against it. It would allow a missile to be launched with less-than-perfect targeting information because it will be able to find the correct target while in route. Instead of just using its own radar systems to locate a target, the LRASM uses a passive sensor to identify the target's own radar signals, which warships always have powered up to detect attack. Meanwhile, the missile's advanced algorithms sort through incoming data to ensure that the identity of the target – say, that it's a cruiser and not a cargo ship – and to zero in on the ship's most vulnerable spot.

With rising security challenges in the global commons, there is growing interest in the subject of "intelligent" weapons systems. This is especially so in the maritime realm, where recent studies have shown that precision-guided weaponry and networked systems are likely to play an increasingly important role. Even while accepting autonomous systems as the future of maritime warfare, however, many find the subject of "intelligent weapon systems" to be deeply contentious. A good point of departure for the discussion on autonomous combat systems is a recent report in the Chinese media about the development of a family of cruise missiles with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. In August this year, a Chinese daily reported that China's aerospace industry was developing tactical missiles with inbuilt intelligence that would help seek out targets in combat.

An anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) developed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that "thinks" thanks to its onboard artificial intelligence (AI) will arm U.S. Navy warships and strike aircraft beginning 2019 and U.S. Air Force combat aircraft a year earlier. The Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) can find a warship target on its own by using its onboard AI to locate a specific warship from among a fleet of enemy warships. A multi-mode seeker guided by the AI ensures the correct warship is hit in a specific area to maximize the probability of sinking the target. The AI enables autonomous targeting by using on-board targeting systems to independently acquire a target without the need for prior precision intelligence, GPS or data-links. These capabilities allow positive target identification and the precision engagement of moving warships in an enemy fleet heavily defended by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and electronic countermeasures. The missile is designed with counter-countermeasures to evade active defense systems on enemy ships.