In late October, the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed at the military port of Sevastopol in the Crimea region was attacked by several unmanned ships. The Russian Ministry of Defense later confirmed that a minesweeper and some port facilities were damaged. Ukraine has also released a video of what it says is an unmanned boat attacking a Russian warship.
The actual effect of this operation remains to be seen, but it is attracting attention as the first large-scale actual combat of an unmanned ship. Military observers believe that this small-scale attack in Sevastopol may become an important event in the history of human naval warfare, and the "asymmetric threat" of unmanned ships to capital ships has become a reality. In the future, new technologies and new tactics around suicide unmanned boats and corresponding countermeasures will become subjects that global navies need to study seriously.
In naval warfare, the use of small boats carrying explosives to carry out surprise raids is not a recent idea. However, compared with previous similar products, the unmanned boat used for the attack this time is more sophisticated and professional. According to the U.S. Naval Institute News Network, in September this year, an unmanned boat of the same type was washed up on the coast of the Black Sea by waves. From the photos on the scene, it can be seen that the boat is equipped with cameras and satellite communication antennas, and can sail hundreds of miles through remote control. Kilometers arrived at the combat area, quickly approached after finding the target, and finally hit and detonated the explosives on the boat.
CNN pointed out that the most significant advantage of this type of suicide unmanned ship is that it is easy to manufacture and low in price. They can use off-the-shelf civilian parts and cost only "tens of thousands of dollars" each, while modern torpedoes and anti-ship missiles cost millions of dollars. With the popularization of satellite communication and navigation technology, a large number of unmanned ships is enough to change the rules of the battlefield. They can allow small countries and even non-state actors to gain the ability to deter large ships and even coastal infrastructure "out of sight" .
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