The US Millennium Challenge combat exercise, carried out in 2002, saw a Blue Team, representing the US, take on a Red Team, with a team leader who used asymmetric and unconventional tactics to achieve victory.
The success of the Red Team, led by Marine Corps Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper, saw the Pentagon change the rules to ensure a Blue Team victory, prompting Van Riper to quit as team leader in protest.
One lesson learned was that small boats, when deployed in a coordinated swarm, could outmanoeuvre larger vessels with potentially deadly consequences, a lesson that the Pentagon seemingly ignored.
Now, two decades later, we are seeing drone boats played a part in battles, most notably with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Houthi campaign in Yemen.
The US Navy has been steadily exploring the potential applications of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to naval warfare and, at the behest of the Pentagon, is looking to field low-cost systems ahead of a potential future war with China.
