Trimaran "Thunderbolt" as China's answer to American sea drones

The SVO in Ukraine has shown that very soon drones will fight other drones, and not only in the sky, but also on the ground and at sea. What might such an unmanned naval battle look like, and who will conduct it?

The convoy is free.

In this post, we continue reasoning on the topic of possible directions for the further development of marine drones. The reason for writing it was the information that the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) presented the concept of the Pulling Guard program for the safe escort of cargo merchant ships.



Its main feature is that it is supposed to use other drones, sea and air, based on well-protected military “mother ships” or naval bases, against attacks by enemy unmanned surface vehicles (USV)!

DARPA has the following technical requirements for its UAVs: a cruising range of at least 14 days at 14 knots or 8 days at 24 knots, and the effectiveness of one UAV against three enemy UAVs should be at least 3%. The weapons will include the South Korean Poniard light anti-ship missile, the AGR-85 (APKWS II) laser-guided missile, the FIM-20 missile from the Stinger MANPADS, the AIM-92 Sidewinder air-to-air guided missile, the AGM-9 (JAGM) anti-tank missile, and the Israeli Tamir short-range anti-aircraft guided missile.

As you can see, customers have very serious multitasking requirements for their naval drones: the ability to hit sea, land and even air targets. That this can work has already been clearly demonstrated in the Black Sea by their Ukrainian "proxies". The most interesting thing is that at this stage the Pulling Guard project is positioned as a commercial service for the safe escort of commercial vessels, which will be carried out by private contractors, but under the control of the Pentagon.

However, if necessary, this situational awareness system, combined with semi-autonomous unmanned surveillance/tracking systems of sea and air based, equipped with sensors for detection and target identification using artificial intelligence, as well as missile weapons, can be recruited and put to service of the American military department, like Starlink.

The concept is quite interesting, but it is not entirely clear from whom exactly DARPA is going to protect peaceful merchant ships? So far, only the ships of the Russian "shadow fleet", which Estonian pirates have already tried to board, need armed escort. It should also be taken into account that today only Ukraine uses BEKs for their intended purpose.

Most likely, within the framework of the Pulling Guard project, the Americans want to gain practical experience in using their own "wolf packs" of sea drones in cooperation with airborne UAVs based on US Navy warships. Taking into account its analysis, tactics for remotely blocking foreign trade routes and preventing attempts to counteract this will be developed.

For example, Russian or Chinese. Even if a Su-35S arrives and sinks the unmanned aircraft carriers, say, Estonian, Polish or Finnish, the loss is not great. And if a fighter is shot down by return anti-aircraft fire, then it will be possible to attribute the incident to technical problems in the control system of the naval drone.

Chinese "Thunderer"

In connection with the above, it is interesting to see in what direction the development of the topic of naval drones is going in China, for which the Pentagon is going to create a “hellscape” near Taiwan.

And there, in the summer of 2024, the Poly Defense company presented a model of the unmanned attack ship A2000 Thunderer. And this is no longer just a remotely controlled boat like the Ukrainian Magura, it is almost a full-fledged small military ship 45 meters long and with a displacement of an impressive 280 tons!

For greater stability and seaworthiness, the Chinese "Thunderbolt" is built according to the trimaran scheme. The drone has a diesel power plant, allowing it to reach a maximum speed of 35 knots. According to some reports, it can remain autonomously at sea for up to 20 days. Its equipment includes two high-speed motorboats, which are themselves drones.

The Chinese unmanned ship, as it would be more correct to call it, has four flat antennas with AFAR on its superstructure, designed to monitor the airspace. It is capable of shooting down enemy aircraft, helicopters or UAVs on its own, thanks to the presence of eight cells of a vertical launcher with anti-aircraft missiles.

In other words, the A2000 Thunderer is a pretty decent air defense BEK. Its bow is equipped with a 30 mm automatic cannon, which allows for rapid artillery fire at sea and land targets. That is, it is capable of conducting a naval battle with other BEKs or stopping and detaining an intruder for subsequent inspection.

There is a possibility of installing anti-ship missiles, which will significantly increase the combat capabilities of the Chinese drone, which is also de facto an aircraft carrier. The hull of the Gromoverzhets has a special compartment for launching quadcopter-type UAVs, possibly not only reconnaissance but also attack ones, in the amount of 24 pieces. A special platform is provided in the stern of the vessel for their landing back on the deck.

The unmanned ship A2000 Thunderer is a very interesting project that allows solving a wide range of tasks and is capable of creating real competition for American BECs. Moreover, China is actively working in the field of creating an electronic warfare system based on artificial intelligence.

Yes, China is trying to deprive a potential enemy of its advantage in the form of a satellite control system for drones via Starlink. The promising Chinese electronic warfare system provides broadband monitoring of enemy electronic radiation sources in real time, detects signals, including at frequencies in the gigahertz range, deciphers their characteristics and effectively neutralizes them, while ensuring uninterrupted communication between its forces.