What Are The Unmanned Drone Boats US Has Deployed Against Iran? New Kamikaze-Style Naval Threat Emerges Amid Strait Of Hormuz Crisis

US Department of Defense has confirmed that it is using unmanned ships in military operations against Iran. This is the first time the United States has been open about using this type of vessel in a conflict situation. These platforms are part of a more extensive campaign to upgrade naval technology with the help of autonomous technologies.

What Are These Unmanned Drone Boats?

The boats in question are known as Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC) and have been developed by BlackSea Technologies out of Maryland. They are approximately five meters long and fast-moving and also unmanned. Therefore, they will not be operated by anyone on board but can either be operated via remoting or operate autonomously and can be used for missions that place human sailors at risk of being injured or killed.

Though unmanned boats have primarily been used for surveillance and patrol purposes, they can also be adapted to perform offensive attacks against targets by utilizing the boat itself as a weapon (kamikaze-style attacks). The versatility of these boats has become even more important as part of conventional naval strategy and for operations in areas such as the Middle East.

The Deployment of Unmanned Surface Vessels in Support of US Military Operations Against Iran

Tim Hawkins, a Pentagon spokesman, stated that the GARC (uncrewed aerial surveillance vessels) are currently being utilized by US forces as part of the ongoing campaign against Iran known as Operation Epic Fury. “We’ve been using uncrewed systems in the Middle East, including the GARC,” added Hawkins. “The GARC has logged over 450 hours underway and over 2,200 nautical miles while conducting maritime patrols in support of Operation Epic Fury.” Therefore, the GARC is currently being utilized for patrolling and monitoring purposes, rather than for executing attacks on enemy shipping.

Currently, there is no evidence that the US has employed the GARC to conduct an attack on an enemy target; however, the GARC has the capability of being designed for offensive operations.

Importance of Unmanned Surface Vehicles in Support of Current Military Operations and Future Operations

Globalization has brought focus to uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) such as the GARC, particularly with their recent usage in the Ukraine/Russia conflict, where explosive-powered USVs inflicted serious damage on the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet.

Simultaneously, Iran has utilized the development of drone vessels to attack oil tankers located in the Gulf which heightens the necessity for the US to deploy unmanned technology systems in that area. In fact, drone vessels have become an integral element of modern-day navy warfare.

Difficulties and Challenges

While there is excitement in the use of these vessels; there have been a number of different issues occurring since the creation of the GARC program. The United States Navy has encountered many of the same periodic difficulties while developing reliable uncrewed vessels; such as delays, issues with technology, and cost.

Multiple testing failures have already been reported (such as an incident where one of the GARC vessels ran into another one during the test period), and there has been a report that during another test of one of these vessels in the Middle East, it had an operational failure. Mr. Hawkins was unable to provide an update on the difficulties experienced by the vessels, but he does say that they are still new capabilities for the United States’ 5th Fleet and will continue to produce situational awareness in an area of the world that is vital for commerce.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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