Russia to Develop Unmanned Ships

Unmanned ships to be developed by a United Shipbuilding Corp. & Tranzas Company joint venture

Speaking at the international engineering technology forum taking place in Zhukovsky, Moscow region, Yevgeny Komrakov, director of the joint enterprise said: "We plan to offer this initiative to Russian Navy."

He noted that nobody in Russia was working on that project at this time.

"In 80's, Almaz Design Bureau used to work on the unmanned vessels. They were developing two projects; the first was a target ship which imitated destroyer and could move like destroyer, be seen on radar displays like destroyer and use destroyer's weapons. The second project was unmanned minesweeper. However, both projects were shut down then", Komrakov said.

According to him, other countries use unmanned ships for patrolling, anti-piracy and counter-terror purposes. "An operator sits several miles away from a ship and controls radar, infrared camera, loudspeaker communication, searchlight, armament, so all ship-based systems, being home and dry. By the way, one operator can control several ships at once", explained Komrakov.

"Unmanned ships are a global development trend today. They are produced in the US, Israel, and some European countries", Komrakov added.