Surface Forces: DARPA Mystery Naval Drone
May 19, 2025: The American DARPA research agency has developed something old but with a new twist. They have built a 55 meter long, 250 t0n naval drone, otherwise known as an autonomous ship. This required five years of development effort. The navy plans to use these drones for reconnaissance and surveillance or as warships. When armed, their anti-ship, anti-aircraft or land attack missiles from Vertical Launch System, or VLS cells, are in a cargo container secured to the deck of the drone ship. Fire control officers on other warships, or operating from a land base, control the use of these missiles. Logistics is another matter. These drone ships have to be rearmed and refueled, Refueling could be handled using air-to-air refueling technology. A drone tanker ship could refuel a drone combat ship at sea. Replacing the weapons containers would be more difficult and could be done at sea from manned ships. Otherwise it would be done dockside in a port or the well deck of a navy amphibious ship.
The DARPA drone is not the first. The island state of Singapore developed and built MARSEC naval drones. These 30-ton drones are 16.9 meters long with a top speed of nearly 50 kilometers an hour and endurance is up to 40 hours at sea.
The U.S. Navy has also been seeking ways to learn from the Ukrainian use of naval drones. These drones defeated the Russian Black Sea Fleet, destroying at least a dozen warships. The remnants of the Black Sea Russian fleet have fled to ports over a thousand kilometers from operating Ukrainian ports. Initially Ukraine had only surface-to-ship missiles when the war started. Ukraine eventually shifted to three new naval drones, Sea Baby, Mother, and MAGURA, or Maritime Autonomous Guard Unmanned Robotic Apparatus.
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