Ukraine Wins “World’s First” Unmanned-Vessel Naval Battle

Ukraine has won what it believes to be the first-ever "battle" between two drone boats at sea. 

In the brief engagement, a Ukrainian Sargan-3000 drone with a remotely-controlled 12.7mm machine gun disabled and then sank a Russian drone, which appeared to be lacking defensive armament.

The Russian unit was an "Orcan" one-way attack boat, according to open-source analyst H.I. Sutton. The Ukrainian drone boat appears to have been fitted with a Norwegian-made remote weapons mount, he reports. 

Video footage released by the Ukrainian Navy showed a short-range engagement in relatively calm surface conditions. The Sargan-3000 operator employed short bursts of fire to hit the Russian drone's hull, mast and antennas. After repeated hits, the target eventually sank stern-first. 

????????BREAKING: The first naval battle in history between two unmanned surface vessels has taken place in the Black Sea.A Ukrainian Navy Sargan 3000 USV, armed with a 12.7 mm Protector RWS, engaged and destroyed a Russian naval drone.The engagement marks the first known combat… pic.twitter.com/VVBlZXQfDY

The engagement is perhaps a sign of things to come – a model-scale version of the gunboat battles of the 20th century, updated for real-world operational needs in the Black Sea environment. Both Russia and Ukraine use explosives-laden drone boats to attack each other's ports and ships; both have struggled to intercept the opponent's one-way USVs. Replicated at scale, a flotilla of miniature gun-equipped USVs could hunt and destroy inbound bomb USVs – along with other threats, like enemy helicopters.