Science & technology | Naval drones

Ukrainian ingenuity is ushering in a new form of warfare at sea

Are uncrewed attack vessels the wave of the future?

On September 21st an odd piece of flotsam washed up on the outskirts of Sevastopol. It was about five and a half metres long and the consensus was that it was a USV (uncrewed surface vessel, essentially a drone boat), possibly on a reconnaissance mission, that had been put together by the ingenious boffins who are to Ukraine what Q branch is to James Bond.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Q-boats”

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