United States Sends Drone Boats to Ukraine

By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

Drone boats are heading to the shore of Ukraine to defend port cities and key coastal areas from further Russian attacks, a substantial development potentially of great significance given that Russia has already once launched an amphibious attack.

Few details are available for security reasons, however the Pentagon has confirmed that indeed US Unmanned Surface Vessels are being sent to Ukraine.

Unmanned Surface Vessels to Ukraine

“They’re designed to help Ukraine with its coastal defense needs. And I think I’m just going to leave it at that. I’m not going to get into the specific capabilities, but they’re designed to help Ukraine with its coastal defense needs,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters April 14, according to a Pentagon transcript.

This is an extremely significant development in a number of key respects, given the known performance abilities of these kinds of small drone boats. It is unclear just how sophisticated they will be in terms of autonomy, yet at very least they can easily be teleoperated by Ukrainian forces conducting Command and Control from the shore. 

Beyond this, they may operate with various levels of autonomy, bringing a range of yet-to-exist tactical advantages. USVs, whether they are armed or unarmed, can perform both offensive and defensive roles.

Certainly on the defensive site, they could offer Ukrainian forces along the coastline a beyond-the-horizon surveillance node able to “sense, see and detect” approaching Russian ships and even provide early warning of an amphibious attack. This could be crucial as it would enable Ukrainian ground forces an opportunity to consolidate defenses and mass firepower along the coast to target approaching Russian ships.