In the world's first naval drone-on-drone combat engagement, a Ukrainian Sargan-3000 unmanned surface vessel equipped with a 12.7mm remote-controlled machine gun destroyed a Russian Orcan kamikaze drone boat in the Black Sea on September 12. The Ukrainian drone disabled the Russian vessel's communications antenna at range and sank it, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of autonomous maritime warfare.
Background
The Russia-Ukraine war has seen extensive combat use of uncrewed systems across air, sea, and land domains, with both sides deploying swarms of attack drones and uncrewed surface vessels. This engagement represents the first known instance of USV-vs-USV combat in modern warfare.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Sep 22, 2026 at 05:07 AM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10