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A special report examines the evolving landscape of naval warfare following the deployment of unmanned sea drones by the United States to strike submarine and ship maintenance facilities at the Port of Bandar Abbas in Iran.
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00:15Hello and welcome to a special edition of Battlecry, I'm Gaurav Savant.
00:20The world is watching the war in West Asia escalate dangerously and each day newer and
00:27more dangerous weapons of war are being tested and used in combat.
00:32The US for example has released images of an unmanned sea drone and its impact on Iran's
00:38crucial ship and submarine maintenance facilities at the port of Bandar Abbas.
00:43The US central command in a statement said and I quote, using multiple one way attack surface
00:49drones CENTCOM forces successfully struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility in
00:56Iran.
00:56Three Corsair unmanned surface vehicles hit the port at Bandar Abbas naval base marking the
01:04first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations.
01:10The strikes, according to the United States, degraded Iran's ability to continue attacking
01:15commercial shipping.
01:18So let's take a look at these unmanned surface vessels.
01:21Now the three pictures you see on your television screen were released by US CENTCOM.
01:27The Corsair surface vessel is about 24 feet in length, that's about a little over 7 meters,
01:337.3 meters to be precise.
01:35Its top speed is about 35 plus knots.
01:3940 miles or about 65 kilometers per hour, that's the speed.
01:42The operational range and that is where these weapons become extremely interesting.
01:47The operational range is 1,000 plus nautical miles.
01:52So it's about 1,150 miles or about 1,850 plus kilometers.
01:58The payload capacity.
02:01Up to 1,000 pounds or a little under 500 kilograms, 454 kilograms to be precise of explosives.
02:09So according to the United States Navy and analysts who've been tracking these weapons very closely,
02:15Corsair surface drones can be configured for a number of different missions and we've seen
02:20that in these recent operations they can carry communication gear, reconnaissance sensors and cameras,
02:26or about 1,000 pounds plus of explosives if they're used in a kamikaze drone attack
02:32or a one-way drone strike like the mission at Bandar Abbas.
02:36They have AI-enabled computing software on board, the vessel, it can receive a set of mission parameters
02:43and then they can be executed autonomously.
02:47So it's all autonomous.
02:49Then there is very limited human intervention that's required once data is filled and the mission is launched.
02:57Now these weapons or these drones are easily mass produced.
03:03They can be quickly produced.
03:05They are cost effective and perhaps many times they're seen as a very effective alternative
03:10to huge multi-million dollar crewed warships, you know, with a crew where the lives of crew members could be
03:20endangered
03:20like in the Strait of Hormuz or a very narrow battlefield where they can be employed.
03:25So these autonomous vessels have been used in two very major operations and very recently.
03:30Remember that very recent Apache crew rescue, June 2026.
03:34So that is where these vessels were operated by U.S. 5th Fleet's Task Force 59.
03:41Now these vessels were used to locate and then assist two U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilots
03:47who were stranded in the water that of course was off the coast of Oman.
03:51And that was the first known use of these autonomous military vessels to recover personnel at sea.
03:58And of course, this very recent Bandar Abbas strike mid-July, U.S. CENTCOM deployed three of these Corsair USVs
04:06in a coordinated strike on Iran's submarine and ship maintenance facility at the Bandar Abbas naval base
04:13that marked the first offensive combat use of these American sea drones.
04:20What are lessons for India?
04:22Joining me on this Battle Cry special broadcast on these latest developments and weapons of war,
04:28Vice Admiral Sanjay Mahindru, former Deputy Chief of Naval Staff,
04:32Captain DK Sharma's former spokesperson of the Indian Navy and a consultant at Bharat Shakti
04:37and of course my colleague Sandeep Unnithan.
04:39Admiral Mahindru, the world's most powerful 11 aircraft carrier battle group navy
04:46was virtually checkmated in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran using unmanned armed boats.
04:53Sir, your reading of this changing nature of warfare from large aircraft carrier strike groups
04:59to these small mass produced unmanned boats, especially in battle scenarios like in the Strait of Hormuz.
05:09Yes, Gaurav, pleasure being on Battle Cry once more.
05:13Certainly, it has been a substantial change and this change was brought about by the Ukrainians.
05:20It has been a substantial change of using unmanned surface vessels for combat purposes.
05:27The Task Force 59 that you mentioned based in Bahrain has been used by the Americans for a long time
05:33to patrol and monitor the Persian Gulf.
05:36But after having seen the Ukrainians starting somewhere in October 22 till June 24, they had carried out eight attacks.
05:46And certainly the attack on Sevastopol and the attack on the bridge in Kerch was certainly, I would say, underlining
05:55the importance of this new form of warfare.
05:58What this does is that firstly, it takes the man out of danger.
06:04So it's unmanned.
06:05You are unmanned.
06:07Therefore, you become smaller and cheaper.
06:09By becoming smaller, your chances of detection are reduced.
06:13And by becoming cheaper, I can produce these unmanned vessels in large numbers and therefore overwhelm the defenses and the
06:22surveillance capability of the adversary.
06:24So that is what has happened.
06:26Now, this has happened largely because one, the autonomous ability of the vehicles has improved.
06:33Our ability to put in a lot of software has increased.
06:36And simultaneously and which Task Force 59 was very instrumental in doing was to increase the networking capability.
06:44That means I was therefore also able to monitor what this guy was doing.
06:49Although they may be autonomous, they have this great advantage of being very accurate also.
06:54Because let's say you are hitting a gantry like the Americans did in Bandara Pass.
06:58Now, this is something very specialized.
07:00They wanted to hit the maintenance facility of the submarine, you know, force.
07:06Now, they could not have made a mistake.
07:08Now, you carry out an air attack or a missile attack.
07:10Such an accuracy cannot be achieved.
07:12If you got somebody in the loop who is able to see the camera picture and do last minute corrections,
07:18you are sure that if these three get into the harbor of Bandara Pass, they will destroy this facility.
07:24So, these are the kind of advantages that the unmanned surface vessels have brought in.
07:32And the range that they have.
07:35Absolutely.
07:36So, they also, because they are not men, they can also carry a larger payload.
07:42And also, because they can carry more fuel, they have a larger range.
07:45And if I put men in this, everything becomes more complicated.
07:49So, therefore, this has become a substantial and an underlining change in the nature of warfare at sea.
07:56Of course, I don't know.
07:59Both these cases, both the Black Sea and Sea of Azov and the Bandar Abbas, the Persian Gulf instance, are
08:07in very close environments.
08:09We will have to see how this affects the open sea warfare.
08:12That means, like you mentioned, the aircraft carriers.
08:16Yes.
08:16So, we will have to watch that.
08:17And let me bring Captain Sharma into this conversation.
08:20Because we talk about sea control.
08:22Our adversaries usually talk about sea denial.
08:25Well, when we have those large aircraft carriers and multiple fighter jets taking off or helicopters taking off,
08:32basically, we want to control the seas in large open seas.
08:37Now, when the adversary talks of sea denial,
08:41U.S. with three aircraft carrier strike groups in the region was checkmated by Iran in that very narrow Strait
08:48of Hormuz to enter the Persian Gulf.
08:50So, Iran virtually dominates the Persian Gulf because America cannot cross the Strait of Hormuz, that narrow lane.
08:56Your reading, sir, in India's scenario, do we still need those gigantic aircraft carriers?
09:05Well, thank you, Gaurav.
09:07Thank you for giving me this chance.
09:10First of all, we call them, instead of autonomous, you know, under or surface vessels, we call them autonomous weaponized
09:20boat swarms.
09:20The very fact that we call them AWBS means, the way you are showing, they will move in batches of
09:29two or more.
09:30Now, coming through the first, you know, thing that India has been on to this and that too from 2014
09:38onwards.
09:39If you remember Gaurav and, you know, sir and Sandy also know that this project was taken up by a
09:46particular firm of India or MSME in 2014 and 2015 onwards.
09:53They have been doing, you know, pioneering work on it.
09:57So, what Corsair is today, India does have an answer to it.
10:02And as brought out, three things, highly efficient, number two, cost effective and number three, very safe.
10:11That means loss or risk of life is not there.
10:15So, there is no crew.
10:17Now, coming to what a carrier battle group can do and a force of this kind.
10:23You see, Gaurav, if you have, you know, 10 or 12 of these boats deployed in an area, for example,
10:31in the Strait of Hormuz from three directions.
10:34Like, there is a direction from there, the threat is anticipated and the other three directions.
10:40And of these swarms, small, tiny little boats, one-way traffic.
10:45They are going from here and as brought out by the Admiral, the payload is so great, whether it is
10:51radars, whether it is electro-opticals, whether it is communication relay, so on and so forth.
10:56You are also capable of doing electronic warfare, electronic countermeasures.
11:01Yes.
11:02And I will come to mine countermeasures a little later, logistic support and very many roles which these boats can
11:08do.
11:09If they are the actual game changers, they will, they have already changed how the naval warfare will happen in
11:15the days to come.
11:17Oh, they are absolute game changers.
11:19You are absolutely right.
11:20I will come to carrier battle group in just a moment.
11:22Let me quickly bring in Sandeep into this conversation because Sandeep, these can be mass-produced.
11:27And, you know, as both the Admiral Mahindru and Captain Sharma were pointing out, India is not playing catch-up
11:33here.
11:33India is actually a step ahead in these.
11:37You know, these boats are completely changing the rules of the game.
11:41Absolutely, Gaurav.
11:42And, you know, this is one area where the Indian Navy has invested heavily in, as Captain Sharma mentioned,
11:47that we anticipated this era of algorithmic maritime warfare.
11:52And we saw proof of concept two years ago, Gaurav.
11:55You remember, there was that boat called Matangi, which did 1500 kilometers from Mumbai to Tuti Koren.
12:011500 kilometers completely autonomously.
12:03This boat was prepared, made by Sagar Defense Engineering.
12:07They are one of the leading private sector firms in India that developed these kind of capabilities.
12:11The most important thing about these boats, Gaurav, is that you have the algorithm which is entirely Indian.
12:17That is, once you've, you know, cracked that algorithm, it's possible to make several platforms completely autonomous
12:24because that is the AI-driven heart of that boat.
12:26And now we are given to understand the Navy has already got several of these in its arsenal.
12:32It's a secret program. They don't like to talk much about it.
12:35And my guess is that the Indian Navy today is where it was in 1971 with the missile boats,
12:43which was absolutely secret.
12:44It was unleashed and it terrified the Pakistanis on the night of December 4th, 1971.
12:50This is the kind of capability the Indian Navy has got with a new generation of missile armed
12:57and, you know, autonomous underwater surface vessels.
13:01Oh, absolutely. You know, a step ahead of the adversary.
13:05Let's talk about the scenario in the Arabian Sea.
13:09Next time, you know, in Operation Sindur, Indian Navy was deployed.
13:13They were just waiting for instructions.
13:15But next time, should there be a requirement?
13:19Saturation attack by drones and surface drones and subsurface drones?
13:23Or large aircraft strike groups to dominate the seas?
13:28Or will they be vulnerable to the enemy using disruptive technology, Admiral?
13:34Yeah. So, Gaurav, certainly one I'd just like to add to what was said regarding our capabilities being built up.
13:42One is that further to what Sagar Defence has done, we have also now gone for an expression of interest
13:48very recently in March for more boats of this kind.
13:52So, I think more of what is going to happen is there on the cards. That is the first part.
13:57The second part is that we certainly will have to incorporate this in our order of battle.
14:05And both come together.
14:08You see, there are times when you need an aircraft carrier to close after you have achieved a degree of
14:14air superiority.
14:15Because I can't put an aircraft carrier very close to enemy waters and, you know, run into a risk of
14:22it facing their air force.
14:24I don't want to do that.
14:26But that is not the case with such unmanned vessels.
14:30I can start, you know, picking at the, you know, easy targets, especially fixed targets in harbour.
14:37Because I have the position, the position cannot change much. And if I send them in large enough numbers and
14:45coordinate it with other attacks, like the Americans did.
14:48The Americans did not only send in these three corsairs.
14:52This was a coordinated attack with air, missile and a very focused attack towards this maintenance facility.
14:59So, if I do this kind of an attack, then they become extremely potent.
15:05I can do simultaneous attacks on two or three harbors or on two or three facilities, maybe merchant ships.
15:12I can even monitor slocks much better.
15:15One lesson that we have learned considerably is the advantage of geography.
15:19We are so blessed in our geography and we have to learn how to take advantage of that.
15:24Even if I need to monitor the slocks going along the Makran coast or I want to monitor the slocks
15:30going along the Malacca Straits, these are extremely valuable assets.
15:34I may monitor it today.
15:36Tomorrow I may need, I may use them to, you know, actually control or disrupt.
15:42And these are lessons that we have always known, but we have seen them demonstrated to us.
15:47So, I think the order of battle and the application of force using these unmanned surface vessels is going to
15:56be a part of the Indian naval doctrine and application strategy.
16:02Absolutely.
16:03The sea lanes of communication.
16:05Remember, India has constantly been saying, as of some other powers, that sea lanes of communication have to be free
16:11and open for navigation.
16:13Captain Sharma, Admiral Mahindru drew lessons not just for the North Arabian Sea, but also for the Malacca Straits.
16:21What's the biggest lesson from the Iran-U.S. war and, of course, the Russia-Ukraine war, especially in the
16:31Black Sea region for, let's say, the Malacca Straits?
16:34Yes.
16:35Okay.
16:36Agdi has brought out very clearly that we are blessed with the geography.
16:40Now you just see the distance between Campbell Bay and Banda Ache.
16:44That is the Indonesian port.
16:46Yes.
16:46Just about 180 kilometers.
16:48It will just need two boats this side and two boats that side.
16:52And your total effort of surveillance, that means intelligence, intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance is taken out by these four
17:02boats who have an endurance of loitering for more than seven days.
17:06And so endurance looked after, your reach is looked after, and you have enough payload in the terms of communication
17:15equipment, radars, which are directly, you know, feeding the data at the, you know, IFC IOR, you can say, or
17:23you can say the ops rooms.
17:25Yes.
17:25So everything is alive.
17:27And then all your effort is being kept at standby.
17:30The ship doesn't have to come out.
17:32They can, you know, remain away from the, the scene of action.
17:37Your Sea Guardians, your P-8Is don't have to fly till the time these people are keeping a hock's eye.
17:45So this is how...
17:45And much cheaper.
17:46And much cheaper, Sandeep.
17:48Absolutely.
17:48Then your P-8Is or even your MQ-9s and the Sea Guardians.
17:55But Sandeep, you know, this again brings to, to for that point, why we need to have that great Nicobar
18:01Island project, why we need that unsinkable aircraft carrier, because you don't need to take your aircraft carrier.
18:09There you have these drones, you have for their, your ISR capabilities for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
18:14These boats are there and should there be a requirement, they can be armed.
18:19Absolutely, Gaurav.
18:19And you know, as they say that a ship is a fool to fight a fort.
18:23And in this era of, you know, unmanned surface vessels, hypersonic missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles, forts have suddenly got
18:32a new lease of life.
18:33And that is what the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are for India.
18:36It is an unsinkable aircraft carrier.
18:39It is a fortress.
18:40It is up to us how we use it.
18:42We can use it to fortify the Malacca Straits, to protect the Indian mainland from whatever is coming from the
18:50South China Sea or beyond.
18:52It gives us a huge advantage over China because while China has been expanding its naval force, you know, it
19:00is the most, it is the largest Navy in terms of numbers.
19:03But this is one advantage that we have now in unmanned surface vessels, underwater, unmanned vehicles, UUVs.
19:12These are the kind of technologies we must invest in, the sea denial technologies.
19:16We must not make the mistake of coming late to the submarine game that we did in the 20th century.
19:22Oh, absolutely.
19:22This is our moment and we must grab it, Gaurav.
19:24This is our moment and Admiral Mahindrao, the last 30 seconds I have on this part of the show, I
19:29quickly want to focus on the fact that you need to be Atmanirbhar when it comes to manufacturing these.
19:34That's another lesson from this war. You need to make them in India, you need to mass produce them in
19:38India and you need to be able to midway change, you know, the requirements, the naval staff requirements that may
19:46be there so that they adapt to the changing warfare.
19:51Absolutely, Gaurav. I mean, Atmanirbharata is central. There is no compromise on that. And in addition to Sagar, other companies
20:00like L&T, etc., have also now taken the step and they're investing heavily, as far as I know, to,
20:06you know, produce and develop the autonomous software and the capabilities.
20:11We also, I think, need to go submersible. I mean, these are, the Corsa is a totally planar boat. But
20:22what the Ukrainians use in the Magura is submersible. That means it just goes along the surface of the water.
20:29So the stealth increases.
20:30So certainly we need to develop that, remain Atmanirbhar, achieve large numbers and also bring it into our plans, into
20:40our, you know, how we phase out the operations, into our operational plans.
20:45Now, that is very important that when we war game, when we carry out our strategic revisions and reviews, we
20:54must include this as a very important part of the, you know, the phases of battle that we will go
21:02through.
21:02And not only battle, like the Navy's recent strategy, which has come out, it says no war, no peace.
21:09So we are going to be in a period of surveillance and very quickly change over to combat, which brings
21:14the point that you said of flexibility of payloads.
21:17That means today I may use them very, very, you know, politely only for surveillance and for monitoring.
21:24But tomorrow, if need be, I should be able to convert them very quickly with the appropriate payload to carry
21:30out strike, strike missions as well.
21:33So I think that's an important thing.
21:35Yes, the last word on this part of the show, Admiral Mahendru, Captain Sharma and Sandeep for joining me here
21:42on this Battle Cry special.
21:44Many thanks.
21:45Remember, the nature of warfare is changing and changing so rapidly.
21:49And I'm so glad India is not just keeping abreast, but as of now, we are a step ahead.
21:55A quick break.
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