The European Commission is pressing the accelerator on investment in weapons and defense technologies. From a total 590 million invested between 2017 and 2020, Brussels has moved to a 7.3 billion ( 7.9 billion) package for the 2021 to 2027 period. This year alone, the European Defense Fund (EDF) has put 1.1 billion on the plate, divided into 34 calls for as many military-related research topics. From developing new drone models to sensors to increase radar capabilities. From systems to counter hypersonic missile attacks to enhancements in the analysis of images collected by satellites. From "smart weapons" to advanced communication technologies.

Here's What You Need to Remember: From a tactical circumstance, given that attack submarines and nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines are likely to conduct large amounts of clandestine patrols, it seems as though an ability to avoid having to surface would bring an extraordinary operational advantage. Could newer kinds of AI-enabled undersea drone data processing and analysis introduce new breakthrough possibilities when it comes to solving the longstanding challenge of achieving high-speed, real-time connectivity? Submarine commanders and weapons developers explain that UUV undersea functionality is dependent upon limited battery power and would therefore be further enabled by an ability to "process the data at the source of the sensor" to distinguish and transmit only the most critical information needed by human decision-makers. "That's the concept, how do you get all of that information back to a human to analyze. Maybe you don't want to do that? Maybe you want to allow the UUV to do some initial analysis and make some modifications to its behavior autonomously?"

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Maybe it will take out missiles beyond the earth's atmosphere, incinerate targets well beyond the horizon with high-powered laser weapons and instantly stop a multi-faceted series of incoming attacks all at the same time? Perhaps it will use AI-empowered algorithms to launch a large fleet of networked surface, air and undersea drones, able to launch coordinated attacks at long ranges? All of these capabilities, advanced well beyond the current state-of-the-art into a new generation of maritime warfare weapons, are likely to figure prominently in the Navy's current conceptual work on a new generation of destroyers to emerge more than a decade from now – the Future Surface Combatant.

The Navy is planning to launch a massive, 50-ton undersea drone to expand mission scope, increase attack options, integrate large high-tech sensors, further safeguard manned combat crews and possibly fire torpedoes -- all while waging war under the ocean surface. The 50-ton Orca, which would not fit in a submarine launch tube, brings an unprecedented sensing, endurance and attack advantage. The Navy has finished its Critical Design Review of the Orca, called an Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle, and begun construction, Capt. Pete Small, Program Manager for Unmanned Systems, Naval Sea Systems Command, said in early May at the Navy League's Sea Air Space Symposium. Earlier this year, Boeing was awarded a $43 million deal to build four Orcas.

The Navy has taken several new steps in its development of several large underwater drones designed to conduct undersea reconnaissance, search for and destroy mines, and possibly launch attacks. The Navy has taken several new steps in its development of several large underwater drones designed to conduct undersea reconnaissance, share combat essential data with submarine "motherships," search for and destroy mines and - in some cases - launch attacks on enemy surface and undersea vessels The two new undersea drones, to be configured with advanced sensors and weapons, are called the Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) and the Large Diameter Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV). "These will help consolidate Navy vision to bring UUVs (Unmanned Underwater Vehicles) and USVs (Unmanned Surface Vessels) to the fleet, and integrate them with surface vessels and submarines," Capt. Pete Small, Program Manager for Unmanned Systems, said recently at the Surface Navy Association. The construction strategy, according to developers, is to engineer a new "upgradeable," multi-mission drone able to quickly integrate new technology and payloads as they emerge.