The special operation changed the approach to modern warfare and clearly showed that the future has already arrived. On the battlefield, the dominant role is assigned to remotely controlled systems: UAVs, ground-based robotic complexes, unmanned boats (BEC) and uninhabited underwater vehicles (NPA). The latter are the most complex type of robotics. How to create naval combat drones using additive technologies (or, more simply, using 3D printing), how Russia can respond to the United States in automating the naval component and what kind of submarine warfare of the future will be — in the TASS material.
From Tesla's boat to BACK
It is generally believed that the first radio-controlled boat was made by Nikola Tesla, known for experiments in the field of electrical engineering, back in 1898. At an exhibition in the USA, he showed a small radio-controlled vessel, in which he saw military potential. Already in the First World War, Germany created the Fernlenkboot boats, which were controlled remotely by cables and used by the German Navy to undermine British ships. Similar developments were continued in World War II, including in the USSR.
The field of marine drones received a new impetus in the first decade of the XXI century. In 2008, the American corporation General Dynamics handed over to the US Navy the first unmanned Fleet type boat. It was designed to assist the main warship in the fight against submarines.
The topic of unmanned boats became a byword again with the beginning of a special military operation, when the Naval Forces of Ukraine began to use small and inexpensive naval attack drones of a relatively short range for attacks in the Black Sea. During its operation, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported more than 40 times the destruction of Ukrainian unmanned boats.
"Those backup systems that the enemy uses are, as a rule, either converted jet skis, or something very similar to it," says Dmitry Kuzyakin, General director of the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions (CCDB). — They are the result of evolutionary development not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of the theater of operations in which they are used. Please note: they do not have such a long range. They [are launched] from the Nikolaev — Odessa area, that is, what used to be called the big grain route, [and] do not go so far. They were made for this specific task and it is possible to repeat and replicate this practice only on the condition that they will be applied in similar circumstances."
Russia also does not stand still on the issue of creating new attack unmanned boats, Kuzyakin notes. In his opinion, the potential for the use of Russian developments is as great as the products of other countries. As Alexander Moiseev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy (Navy), said at the International Naval Salon "Fleet-2024" recently held in Kronstadt, without the introduction of such systems, the activity of a modern fleet is impossible. According to him, the topic of unmanned systems, robotic complexes is not just relevant, "this is the objective reality of today," and their explosive introduction into all spheres of activity, including the military industry, is necessary.
Unmanned boat "Orkan"
Image source: © Georgy Sultanov/ TASS
For example, one of the most interesting innovations of the MVMS was the unmanned boat "Vizir", developed by specialists of the Military-Industrial Holding KMZ (Kingisepp Machine-Building Plant). It is a universal platform suitable for both military and civilian use. The Orkan marine drones, the BEK-1000 and the MMT-300 autonomous uninhabited vehicle were also shown here.
From prototype to mass production
By and large, says Andrey, Executive Director of the Spektr Design Bureau Brothers, everything that is required now has already been thought up earlier.
Andrey Bratenkov
Executive Director of the Spektr Design Bureau
According to him, at the moment, an important stage in the creation of the back is building effective cooperation with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in order to speed up the development and launch of serial production. "But, as a rule, the clubs of young technicians have just a prototype, for which there is no design documentation, no certification, there is nothing," he said. For this reason, Bratenkov proposed to build a network of operators (design bureaus) in every federal district of Russia, who will be able to prepare all the necessary documentation and help go the difficult way from idea to prototype, and then from prototype to mass production. All these procedures need to be simplified, he added.
Andrey Bratenkov
Executive Director of the Spektr Design Bureau
Against marine drones
At the same time, the issue of countering surface drones arose. "The enemy in the global sense — the Americans, the conditional West, no one in the world at all — is not ready to counteract this kind of drones. Just as no one turned out to be ready for attacks by drones of the "third league" from the air," Kuzyakin clarifies.
Currently, small arms are the main weapons used to combat marine drones. As Denis Oslomenko, CEO of the PPSH Laboratory company, which produces anti-drone rifles, told TASS, there is a problem with the lack of thermal imaging equipment for fighters, since the main attacks of the back are carried out at night. Currently, a thermal imaging system is being developed in Russia to effectively repel attacks by unmanned boats by ships of the Black Sea Fleet. According to Oslomenko, the devices will allow detecting targets at a distance of more than 1 km. In addition, the watchman on the upper deck should also be equipped with thermal imaging binoculars — so he can indicate to the fighters with machine guns the azimuth of the boats at the moment when they just begin to approach.
Also, to defeat unmanned boats, a new version of the Komar 3M47-03E anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) (turret mount) with Ataka guided missiles was created, expanding the functionality of the installation. The SAM is equipped with optoelectronic and thermal imaging target recognition systems, the range of which reaches 20 km during the day.
Naval wars of the future
At the same time, according to Kuzyakin, our country also needs to focus on the development and creation of marine drones of the "third league" (made of inexpensive materials and designed for a certain range of operations), but with a global range. "Roughly speaking, by launching it somewhere in the Barents Sea, in a few months it can be expected on the east coast of the United States," the expert adds.
The expert noted that the naval theater of operations is not a distance of several hundred kilometers, but much longer distances.
Dmitry Kuzyakin
Director General of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
"I repeat, we are not talking about nuclear products that our country has learned to make, which are autonomous and float without crews. They are insanely expensive, they are full-fledged drones of the "first league". And we are talking about drones of the "third league". The development of this kind of drones is much more important than the development of short—range backup systems that the enemy uses against us," adds the head of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The leading countries of the world pay great attention not only to unmanned boats, but also to autonomous uninhabited vehicles, which, according to experts, are the most complex type of robotics. "All world leaders are developing them, and the civilian sector is actively involved in the competitive technological struggle," Alexander Stepanov, a military expert, program director of the Academy of Political Sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ILA RAS), told TASS. "Former Western marine engineering companies that profiled in peaceful hydrographic research and offshore energy production support become defense contractors and engage in dangerous underwater confrontation."
Using the example of the United States, the expert noted the gradual transition from complex heavy-class industrial products to mass production of light and unobtrusive modular autonomous vehicles. The latter are distinguished by the possibility of operational production on 3D printers using polymers. "As an example, the American company Anduril Industries, which is a defense contractor for the Pentagon, can be cited. A special feature of this organization is its emphasis on the development of autonomous solutions for all environments. In fact, a robotic arsenal is being formed as part of the practical implementation of multi—domain operations, as well as the creation of a single seamless digital control circuit for various types of drones using artificial intelligence algorithms," Stepanov says.
Thus, it can be concluded, the expert continues, that the United States is preparing, among other things, for underwater warfare, expanding its production potential and the range of drones. "A sabotage submarine fleet is being formed, the appearance of which is being brought to maximum autonomy. In addition to the classic anti—submarine warfare, the range of tasks of the new toolkit is likely to include a priority goal - the disruption of maritime communications of opponents, primarily Russia and China. Including sabotage at underwater telecommunications and energy infrastructure facilities," Stepanov concluded.
Alexey Zhukov, Ekaterina Adamova
