Posted on 09/08/2025 11:32:58 AM PDT by DFG
As a tugboat captain pulled an unmanned U.S. military drone boat out of Naval Base Ventura County in California recently, there seemed little danger.
But then, the robot vessel suddenly turned itself on, zoomed forward and bashed into the vessel towing it, capsizing the tug and throwing the unfortunate skipper overboard.
Weeks later, in another exercise, a military robo-boat stalled and was smashed into from the side by another speeding drone vessel.
The fast-moving robot boat hit the stationary one's bow, flew into the air and over it, and landed with a splash.
Details of the damage are unknown, but for the Pentagon such incidents are an inauspicious start as it moves into a new era of robotic maritime warfare.
President Donald Trump wants a vast fleet of such drone vessels, including kamikaze speedboats, to be able to swarm off Taiwan by 2027, when China has said its military will be ready to invade the island.
The president's recently-passed 'Big Beautiful Bill' included almost $5 billion for 'maritime autonomous systems' and testing has been going on at venues including Ventura since April.
On Tuesday, President Trump blasted the leaders of China, Russia and North Korea for 'conspiring against the United States of America' as they assembled to watch a massive military parade in Beijing.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping hosted the parade to mark 80 years since WWII and showed off his country's latest weapons, including a laser that could blind human pilots.
Fleets of unmanned boats, along with aerial drones and robot submarines, are key to America's so-called 'hellscape' strategy to defend Taiwan.
'I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities,' Admiral Sam Paparo, Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said recently.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I didn’t realize that Trump had an engineering degree.
Is Boeing the contractor or a sub on this?
If true, that's bad engineering. Drones should not have the option of self starting. More likely, it was put in some sort of standby mode. Possibly a glitch, needs fixing, but the root cause is you shouldn't tow a drone that is able to start itself, hard power down for safety.
Weeks later, in another exercise, a military robo-boat stalled and was smashed into from the side by another speeding drone vessel.
Stalling = normal, likely a mechanical problem on a new platform.
Depending on how close they were maneuvering, a crash may have been unavoidable, or it may have been avoidable but wasn't. Can't tell from this article.
No idea but it does have an h1b flavor….
HACKERS?????
That’s pretty impressive that Trump got the funding approved and had them already built and ready for testing in 9 months!
Is this from the British “National Enquirer”?
Robo Rogue!
Sounds like a Death Metal band...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinyo_(suicide_motorboat)
note below the harbor filled with these waiting for the invasion during ww2.
https://www.thearmorylife.com/suicide-boats-japans-shinyo-kamikaze-craft/
“That’s pretty impressive that Trump got the funding approved and had them already built and ready for testing in 9 months!
When I was a program manager on a Navy contract in 2013 we were being asked to respond to proposals from South Korea, the USN, and, if I recall, Australia. Some of these proposals were to put our boxes on already existing drone boats. These weren’t secret proposals. I’m guessing that the media isn’t interested. The only reason we’re hearing about this one is they were able to combine the word “Trump” with something not working.
The only reason we’re hearing about this one is they were able to combine the word “Trump” with something not working.
“and $5 billion on just kamikaze boats according to headline”
That’s an irrelevant number as we know nothing about it. It could be the deal of the century. Does it include development and testing of a totally new technology? If so, it’s a bargain. Does it include preproduction test units or proof of concept systems? We don’t know. Does it include spares and sustainment contracts? We have no idea.
An article says country X bought ten fighter jets for Y dollars. People automatically divide the number by ten and think X got a really raw deal. But does it include spares, support, test stations, and, possibly a lot of things that go bang that the planes carry? They never go that far in a media article.
GET THE CHINESE AND INDIANS OUT OF THE DEVELOPMENT TEAMS. They are likely sabotaging things, and definitely stealing things.
I wonder if these are destined for sale to Taiwan.
bump
Good points. Thanks for posting.
Good strategy. They’ll work out the bugs, then look out, Xi..
Drones had many glitches at their start=up. Don’t believe it? Just ask anyone who was active in the early days at Nellis in Nevada.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.