What We Know About Future Maritime Wars
Fine Print
APRIL 26TH, 2022 BY WALTER PINCUS | 0 COMMENTS
OPINION — Remember the April 13, announcement that the U.S was sending Ukraine “unmanned coastal defense vessels” from U.S. Navy stocks as part of an $800 million security assistance package?
At the time, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters, “Coast defense is something that Ukraine has repeatedly said they’re interested in. It is particularly an acute need now, as we see the Russians really refocus their [Ukraine] efforts on the east and in the south.”
“It’s an unmanned surface vessel (USV) that can be used for a variety of purposes in coastal defense. I think I’ll just leave it at that,” Kirby said.
The inclusion of an unknown number of unidentified, unmanned Navy vessels to Ukraine caught my interest, so I looked into the growing role that these unmanned maritime systems seem to be playing in Navy strategy. The Navy had already integrated manned ships with unmanned aerial systems, such as the MQ-4C Tritons, the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator (BAMS-D) systems and MQ-1 Predators.
https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column/fine-print/what-we-know-about-future-maritime-wars
