SOF WEEK — Just days after Ukraine claimed to have shot down two Russian Su-30 jets with air-to-air missiles launched from an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) in the Black Sea, a US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) official said they’ve seen interest in such a “marsupial” capability.
Speaking at the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida on May 6, an official from USSOCOM’s Program Executive Office-Maritime (PEO-M) confirmed there is interest in pursuing USVs capable of carrying a variety of kinetic and non-kinetic effects.
To date, the PEO-M has only worked on efforts to launch loitering munitions from crewed combatant craft as part of the Maritime Precision Engagement (MPE) concept. But the official, who requested anonymity for security reasons, suggested a marsupial capability could include the launch of surface-to-air missiles or uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) from USVs. (“Marsupial” refers to the combination of, in this case, an unmanned surface vessel and additional unmanned aerial, surface or underwater vehicles, similar to marsupials who carry their young in a pouch.)