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Small, unmanned boats are increasingly being used for surveillance, logistics and other maritime missions, but their usefulness has traditionally ended at the water’s surface. Giving them the ability to deploy aerial systems creates a different model: a robotic vessel can carry drones across long distances before launching them closer to their target area.
Splash Industries has introduced the Airstrike Pack, a modular launcher for its Typhoon uncrewed surface vessel (USV). The system allows the 3.35-meter robotic boat to carry and deploy one-way aerial drones, effectively turning it into a mobile offshore launch platform.
Operators control the deployment through the company’s Splash C2 command-and-control software. According to Interesting Engineering, aerial drones can be launched on command once the USV reaches the required location. The pack has already been tested during a force-on-force exercise, although the company has not disclosed how many drones the module carries or specifications for the aircraft themselves.
The concept can extend the effective reach of an aerial system. Instead of requiring a drone to fly its entire mission from shore or launching it from a crewed warship, the USV can transport it closer to the operational area while remaining unmanned itself.
That approach is supported by the boat’s own performance. The company says the USV has a range exceeding roughly 1,110 kilometers, and can sustain speeds above 50 knots. The vessel has reportedly exceeded 70 knots during testing.
Its deck is deliberately modular. Different payloads can be installed depending on the mission, allowing the same platform to carry cargo, sensors or aerial drones rather than requiring a dedicated vessel for each role.
The USV has already demonstrated another side of that flexibility in naval logistics. During the RIMPAC exercise near Hawaii, a USV autonomously delivered spare parts to the amphibious assault ship USS Essex. According to the company, the USV navigated through the ship’s wake and entered its flooded well deck without receiving radio or satellite commands during the operation.
Another USV reportedly transported components for unmanned aircraft that had been manufactured aboard the ship back to shore during the same 24-hour period.
For defense operations, combining surface and aerial unmanned systems could complicate how forces monitor maritime approaches. Small USVs could disperse across wide areas before deploying sensors or other unmanned payloads from unexpected locations, while keeping crewed vessels farther from danger.
Important details about the pack remain undisclosed, particularly its drone capacity and the performance of the aircraft it carries. The system should therefore be viewed as a demonstrated mission module rather than evidence of a specific large-scale swarm capability.
Still, the concept reflects a broader shift in autonomous warfare. Uncrewed platforms are increasingly being designed not merely to perform individual missions, but to transport, launch and support other robots, turning a small boat into a node for operations that continue well beyond the water.
