On September 13, the first-ever naval battle between unmanned surface vessels took place in the Black Sea, and the Ukrainian Navy announced it had won by sinking a Russian unmanned surface vessel. Only the Ukrainian side’s vessel was armed with a machine gun — the Russian unmanned boat reportedly had no means of attack other than ramming — making it effectively a one-sided engagement. On 5ch’s science news board, comments ranged from “this is the war of the future” and “it’s like two RC toys fighting” to broader debate over whether this win can really be called control of the sea, and where a war increasingly led by unmanned systems is headed.
First-ever naval battle between unmanned surface vessels occurs in the Black Sea — Ukrainian Navy defeats Russian Navy
On September 13 (September 12, Ukraine time), the Ukrainian Navy announced that the first-ever naval battle in which both sides fielded unmanned surface vessels had taken place in the Black Sea, and that it had won by sinking a Russian unmanned surface vessel.
Since only the Ukrainian side’s unmanned surface vessel was armed with a machine gun, it turned into a one-sided gun battle (the Russian unmanned surface vessel had no means of attack other than ramming) — but even so, it marks a new page in the history of naval warfare worldwide.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
That's because Ukraine has the whole world backing it.
The Javelins that held up the Russian tank battalions are American-made,
the drones that did all the work are Turkish-made,
and it was the UK that restored the communications network destroyed right after the war began.
Even though it's called "Ukraine," the real substance is basically some other country.
No idea what country actually built this unmanned surface vessel, but with purely Ukrainian forces alone, they'd probably lose to Russia
Ukraine's drones — RC vehicles running over LTE
If you only look at that part, it's a pretty peaceful kind of war lol
>Are these unmanned craft AI self-driving, or remote-piloted from a distance?
Usually it's "radio remote control." A lot of them switch to autonomous mode only once their comms get jammed
If the enemy boat's whole job is ramming, it's probably packed with explosive charges so it can detonate on impact
and that's likely what set off the blast
"Putting an attack gun on a suicide-drone boat is a waste of money"
is apparently what Russia's navy thought, while Ukraine put a proper machine gun even on a boat meant to be expendable — and won
Typical Russia
Then: "Unmanned boats wiped out!"
What a punchline.
Then what was their actual target???
And if human involvement disappears from it entirely,
will humanity decide "what's even the point of war anymore" and arrive at lasting peace,
or will humanity end up ruled by AI, with the world only looking peaceful on the surface?
Mass-importing Ukrainian-made weapons — win-win-win
From here on, the countries that have spent years raising gamers for war are the ones who'll seize dominance
Once war becomes "a game where no soldiers ever die,"
the next targets become infrastructure and civilians — since you're not risking your own life, the cruelty will only get worse
And as always, by the time Japan notices, it'll already be years behind. As always
so a fight between drones only amounts to burning through hardware
Can you really call it a win for Ukraine when it just wasted ammunition?
Ukraine has secured control of the Black Sea, which makes Russia's hold on Crimea meaningless
Russia's Black Sea Fleet is cowering in ports deep inside its own territory
Against something like an enemy surface drone boat, a machine gun is more than enough
Missiles and drones have already made even air superiority meaningless, and now we're talking naval superiority lol lol lol
And on top of that, "Ukraine secured it" lol
Re: #33
Guess offense really is the best defense
Or a Gundam Fight would work too (nod to the tournament-style mecha duels of Mobile Fighter G Gundam)
Once the power gap gets so big that humans fighting is pointless, losing the drone battle might just mean instant surrender
Though it'll be hell once they start hitting civilians by wrecking rear-area logistics
Background and key points of this discussion
Since the war began, Ukraine is said to have repeatedly damaged Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels through unmanned surface vessel attacks, pushing the fleet back from Sevastopol to ports further east. This naval battle is an extension of that campaign, and what makes it “the first of its kind” is that both sides deployed unmanned vessels this time. Where opinions in the thread split was over whether this engagement can really be called “securing control of the sea”: some, like commenter #29, see the fleet’s retreat as a genuine achievement, while others, like #26 and #33, were skeptical that a war of attrition between drones carries any real strategic meaning. Questions also came up in #9 and #12 about how the unmanned vessels are actually piloted — in practice, many such craft are said to run on remote control under normal conditions and only switch to autonomous mode once communications are jammed, though the article alone doesn’t clarify which was the case here. Why the Russian unmanned vessel exploded also remains speculation per #12 and #14, and the details of its onboard equipment are unknown, so that’s worth keeping in mind.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Science News+) thread “[Military] First-ever naval battle between unmanned surface vessels occurs in the Black Sea, Ukrainian Navy defeats Russian Navy.”
