Oceanic assault: Russia steps up development of marine drones

Russia will strengthen the development of marine drones, said Nikolai Patrushev, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and chairman of the Maritime Board. To do this, it is necessary to create a scientific and production competence center and improve the domestic element base, he noted. Russia has the necessary scientific foundation for the development of this field, said Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute. Our country can become one of the leaders in the development of marine unmanned vehicles, experts agree. The new role of marine drones is described in the Izvestia article.

What kind of marine drones are being created in Russia

Russia will ensure the creation of multifunctional autonomous underwater vehicles for various purposes, said Nikolai Patrushev, assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and chairman of the Maritime Board, at a meeting of its scientific and expert council. According to him, technological developments of underwater vehicles for oceanographic research and work under the ice are actively underway.

— Anti-mine complexes and unmanned systems of various types with high tactical and technical characteristics are being created. The range of application of some of them can reach 10 thousand nautical miles (18,5 thousand km — Ed.), and they can be controlled from anywhere in the world based on satellite communication systems, Patrushev said.

In addition, innovative materials, communication and situation monitoring tools, engines and software, including those using artificial intelligence technologies, are being actively developed and implemented.

Nikolai Patrushev noted that currently in Russia, the development of marine drones is carried out mainly by medium-sized and small companies, and the scientific reserve for their key high-tech components has not been formed. Therefore, robotic complexes are at the initial stage of their development.

The head of the Marine Board set a number of tasks for the development of marine drones in Russia. It is necessary to form a scientific and production competence and testing center in order to ensure the full life cycle of such robotic complexes, as well as to improve the domestic element base.

"It is necessary to widely develop and implement artificial intelligence technologies that allow offline detection, classification, tracking and hitting designated targets,— Patrushev said.

The experts of the Maritime Board proposed measures to develop the infrastructure for the operation of marine drones.

On May 30 of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the strategy for the development of the Navy until 2050. Among other things, it prescribes a significantly increased role of unmanned systems. First of all, these are unmanned boats, underwater vehicles, and in the future, unmanned ships.

"The use of robotic marine complexes opens up fundamentally new opportunities for science, industry and defense," said Mikhail Kovalchuk, Chairman of the Scientific Expert Council of the Marine Collegium, President of the Kurchatov Institute. — With the help of autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicles, which are controlled remotely, a lot of tasks are solved, such as geological exploration, provision of underwater technical work, oceanographic research, environmental monitoring, search and inspection of underwater objects.

Mikhail Kovalchuk noted that the intensive development of marine robotics in Russia is especially important because a similar program is being implemented in the United States, and one of its likely goals is to control the Bering Strait and the Northern Sea Route.

Like everything else in the world, the military sphere is currently changing very quickly and dramatically. And drones have already become one of the symbols of modern armed conflicts, stated political scientist Denis Denisov. Marine drones are also becoming more relevant and important. In the next five years, this area in Russia will definitely develop at an accelerated pace, the expert believes.

How other countries use marine drones

Drones at sea are needed not only for military purposes. Such robotics is becoming one of the key tools in the exploration and development of the world's oceans. In addition, it is actively used for environmental monitoring and hydrographic research. The advantages of using unmanned vessels are obvious: there is no threat to human life, and the size of such devices is an order of magnitude smaller.

By the way, unmanned vessels have been used militarily since ancient times. For example, fire ships were filled with gunpowder and sent to enemy ships to set them on fire. Currently, naval drones are used to combat enemy ships, they can conduct reconnaissance and mining.

Naval drones, as well as land-based or air-based ones, are capable of replacing manned combat systems, military expert Dmitry Kornev told Izvestia.

— In particular, Europe is currently deploying a surveillance system for the Baltic Sea based on unmanned floating, diving and underwater marine vehicles, and Ukraine, in turn, is using them as a strike force. They can also be used to mine the water area," he said.

According to the expert, some of the tasks currently performed by submarines can be performed by drones. In particular, because in a combat situation it is much easier to sacrifice them than submarines with hundreds of people inside.

— Now almost all countries are engaged in the production of unmanned systems. For example, Turkey, which is not an outstanding aircraft manufacturer, was able to become a leader in the production of UAVs. We are talking about Bayraktar. A similar situation may occur at sea. Ukraine has never been a maritime power, but now it produces several types of naval drones that are used in real combat operations. Europe, the United States, China, Japan and both Koreas are actively developing marine drones," Dmitry Kornev said.

Russia already has several marine drone development centers, which use technologies at the level of the best in the world. But now it is important for us to move from experimental work to practical use by the Navy, the expert stressed.

Earlier, Izvestia wrote that the Navy is creating naval regiments of unmanned systems. They will be formed as part of all fleets. The new military units will be equipped with robotic systems operating in different environments: aerial UAVs, ground-based drones, unmanned boats and underwater uninhabited vehicles.

And in April 2025, it was announced that a new interdepartmental working group had appeared in the structure of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, whose main priority would be the accelerated development and commissioning of advanced marine unmanned systems.