The unprecedented rescue of two U.S Army pilots after their helicopter was hit by an Iranian drone missile is testimony to the advanced technology now a part of the U.S, Navy’s arsenal. After an Iranian shell lodged in the cockpit of an U.S. Army Apache helicopter, but did not explode, the two pilots bailed out. They floated around for two hours before U.S. Navy unmanned Corsair maritime drone rescue boats plucked them from the waters near the Straits of Hormuz and returned them to safety.
The Corsair is a 24-foot autonomous surface vessel (ASV) that is designed for rugged, long-duration missions. The drones can operate at speeds greater than 35 knots and carry up to 1,000 lbs. over 1,000 nautical miles. The boats used to rescue the two pilots are equipped with sensors that provide 360-degree passive sensing capabilities for day and night operations. They are assigned to U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59. The purchase and integration of ASV boats by the Navy has been an ongoing project.
In fact, The U.S. Navy is planning to acquire thousands of unmanned surface vessels and deploy them to the Indo Pacific region by the year 2030. This in anticipation of a potential maritime conflict with China perhaps over Taiwan. Their use in the Gulf of Hormuz has proven the four important advantages of drone boats. Certainly, the most important is there is zero risk to loss of human life since the boats are unmanned. The small boats are much cheaper to build and more can be built. The boats are fast, have extended endurance and their smaller profiles make them more difficult to detect.
Often referred to as the “Ghost Fleet” the drone boats can be linked via secure data networks to manned destroyers. This allows a traditional command ship to remotely launch missiles from a USV miles away, effectively doubling or tripling its firepower without risking the manned ship. And since there are no crews aboard, the operation is free of the need to rotate or rest crews, Drone boats can remain on station for weeks at a time, conducting persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
The types of drone boats are not limited to the Corsair, the drone boat made famous by the rescue mentioned above. Various drone boats range from small, fast reconnaissance craft to massive, autonomous warships used for everything from clearing mines and gathering intelligence to surface combat and swarm operations. The various boat are classified by size. Small and Medium boats run up to 38 feet. They include the GARC (Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft): 16-foot autonomous speedboats built by Black Sea Technologies. They act as forward scouts, carry up to 1,000 lbs. of payload, and can sprint at 44 knots. The upgraded Chaser (GARC Block 2) offers massive payload capacity for combat and electronic warfare. The Corsair: A 24-foot autonomous surface vessel built by Saronic. They are deployed by the Navy’s Task Force 59 for surveillance, mine detection, and even search-and-rescue operations. The MANTAS T-12: A highly advanced, man-portable aquatic drone designed for forward-deployed surveillance, often utilized for coastal policing and monitoring. And the T38 Devil Ray: A larger 38-foot vessel tested by the Navy for both active intelligence gathering and armed, kinetic missions (such as firing lethal missiles under human supervision).
Boats 39 feet and longer are considered Medium to Large USVs. That category includes the Sea Hunter & Seahawk: 132-foot medium drone ships built by Leidos. They utilize Leidos Autonomous Vessel Architecture (LAVA) and have successfully completed months-long, uncrewed deployments across the Pacific Ocean. The MMUSV (Multi-Mission Uncrewed Surface Vessel): Developed by Textron, this 5th-generation autonomous workhorse is capable of towing heavy equipment, clearing sea mines, and engaging in surface combat while carrying heavy payloads (up to 13,000 pounds). The USX-1 Defiant: A prototype built by DARPA, featuring highly advanced autonomy designed to travel alongside human-crewed destroyers, either functioning on its own or carrying cargo.
The use by the military of unmanned UAVs is not confined to boats. The U.S military operates a fleet of 13,000 unmanned aerial vehicles that can be used for surveillance, to attacked enemy targets and to do many of the jobs once only possible using large manned aircraft. The list of aerial drones is impressive. It includes General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper that is the primary hunter-killer drone for the U.S. Air Force, used for long-endurance intelligence gathering and precision strikes. The General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle is a medium-altitude, long-endurance drone used by the U.S. Army for surveillance and attack missions. The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is a High-altitude, long-range jet-powered drone for strategic reconnaissance and intelligence collection. The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton was developed for the U.S. Navy for maritime surveillance. And there is the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel, a stealth UAV operated by the Air Force for reconnaissance and the RQ-180: A specialized, stealth intelligence gathering drone.
In the ranges of smaller Tactical Drones (UAS) there are AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven: A hand-launched, portable drone widely used for low-altitude surveillance and reconnaissance, the AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma a small, battery-powered aircraft for intelligence, surveillance, and target acquisition. The weapons toolbox also includes Switchblade. That is a loitering munition designed to strike targets by crashing into them. The RQ-12 Waspis a small, hand-launched system and last but not least is the Skydio X10D, a small, autonomous, American-made reconnaissance drone.
Drones may use AI to enhance their capabilities, transforming them from simple remote-controlled devices into autonomous, intelligent systems capable of operating with limited human intervention. AI allows drones to process data, make real-time decisions, and adapt to changing environments, which is especially critical in complex environments or situations where human operators cannot react quickly enough. These new high-tech weapons are a far cry from the limited technology is use during conflicts just ten years ago. Hopefully their very existence will prove a major deterrent to any potential enemy.