The commander of the US military's Central Command, General Michael Kurilla, announced at a conference in Bahrain, on Saturday, that a force specializing in unmanned systems in the Persian Gulf will deploy more than 100 unmanned boats in the waters of the strategic area by next year.
Kurilla spoke after Israel and the US accused Iran this week of a suicide drone attack on an oil tanker operated by an Israeli businessman's company that was transporting fuel from Oman.
The attack is the latest in a series of incidents in the oil-rich region amid escalating tensions between arch-rivals Washington and Tehran that have also caused incidents between their navies.
"By this time next year, Force-59 will deploy a fleet of more than 100 ships, above and below the surface (of the sea), unmanned, working and communicating together," Kurilla said at the annual conference - "Manama Dialogue".