Heightened interest in British “drone boat” after Ukraine’s successful deployment Demonstration at Florida’s SOF Week

12 May 2025 02:23

The Kraken3 Scout Medium uncrewed surface vessel (USV) generated significant interest at the recent Special Operations Forces (SOF) Week conference in Florida, largely due to Ukraine’s effective use of similar systems against Russian targets. Developed by the British firm Kraken, the 27-foot USV is built for diverse missions—including kinetic strikes, counter-drone operations, and transport of cargo or personnel—according to Alex Clark, senior technical director at AV (formerly AeroVironment), which provides the navigation and autonomy systems, along with two types of payloads.

Speaking to the defence-focused The War Zone publication, Clark noted that one Kraken3 unit was being delivered to a “NATO customer,” though he withheld specifics. The vessel’s spotlight moment came just after Ukraine claimed to down two Russian Su-30 fighters using AIM-9 Sidewinders launched from Magura 7 USVs earlier this month.

The Kraken3 is designed as a “marsupial” USV, capable of carrying varied payloads in two internal bays. During SOF Week, it demonstrated AV’s new Titan 4 counter-drone system. It can also be equipped with Switchblade 300 and 600 loitering munitions, which have already proven effective in Ukraine—the 600 featuring a larger warhead and extended range.

The vessel runs on AV’s proprietary “HaloSwarm” system, allowing for fully autonomous or human-in-the-loop operation. “We’ve already operated three USVs together using HaloSwarm in the UK,” said Clark. The demo in Tampa also included a human passenger to showcase the pilot bay function and meet regulatory requirements.

Clark illustrated a typical autonomous mission scenario: a user sets remote waypoints, and the boat autonomously navigates to a location, where a crew member docks and unloads the vessel manually. For situational awareness, the Kraken3 is outfitted with four onboard cameras and a modular sensor gimbal, such as a FLIR system, for long-range visual detection.

In terms of communications, the vessel can operate over Starlink, high-frequency radio, 2.4 GHz bands, or even cellular networks, depending on its configuration.

The strong performance of Ukraine’s USVs has deeply influenced US military planning. At the conference, Navy Cmdr. Michael Linn noted Ukraine’s reported use of a Magura 7 USV to down a Russian SU-30 with a surface-to-air missile as a breakthrough moment. He emphasised the importance of rapid innovation but said he is not currently positioned to pursue a similar capability for US forces.

As Ukraine’s battlefield success fuels interest in naval drones, more defence companies are entering the expanding USV market. The Kraken3 is just one example among several new platforms vying to shape the future of maritime operations.