NATO testing Baltic Sea drones to track Russian warships, freighters

MILAN — U.S.-based Saildrone deployed a handful of unmanned surface vessels as part of NATO’s Task Force X demonstration in the Baltic Sea, which helped detect and track Russian shadow-fleet vessels operating in the area, according to the company.

Launched last year, Task Force X is led by NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and seeks to accelerate the acquisition, development and integration of uncrewed maritime systems into naval operations.

The alliance’s top transformation branch hosted its second operational demonstration in June, where over 60 American and French-made uncrewed systems were stress-tested to assess their effectiveness against conditions on the Baltic Sea.

Among the platforms deployed were four Voyagers, Saildrone’s ten-meter USVs, which operated in the Gulf of Finland and the western Baltic Sea.

“Saildrone Voyagers detected and tracked hundreds of vessels daily and successfully identified the exercises’ ‘red forces’ and identified real-world dark targets in the area, including Russian shadow-fleet and military vessels,” a company press release said.

Some of the environmental challenges the drone boats had to navigate were continued operations during strong winds and rough seas with waves over 2 meters (6.5 feet).

Over the last few months, European countries have ramped up sanctions targeting Russia’s fleet of outdated and often uninsured tankers, known as the shadow fleet, used to evade Western bans and export oil.

A report published by the Brookings think tank in April found that Russia has steadily increased the number of oil tankers part of its shadow fleet since 2022, with over 40% of new ships sold by European Union sellers. In the last three years, Russia has added approximately seven new vessels per month to its covert group, which now stands at around 343 vessels.

Saildrone offers governments a so-called contractor-owned and -operated deal, which means that any data provided to the customer is delivered as a service. In the case of the NATO demonstration, the information gathered by the USVs was integrated into the participants’ common operating picture and accessed through the Saildrone mission portal, made available to the alliance’s Maritime Command.

A similar trial was organized in February through the Task Force X initiative near Danish waters in the Balti Sea, where manned and unmanned assets were integrated into live-firing events and tactical maneuvers.

According to a recent command statement , ACT has focused its efforts on engaging with manufacturers to “bypass bureaucratic delays” and adopt commercially available off-the-shelf systems when needed in order to speed up the formation of the task force.

Individual countries participating in the initiative, including Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Norway and the United Kingdom, will launch national variants modeled after the Task Force X Baltic framework to boost regional defense innovation.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——据该公司称，总部位于美国的 Saildrone 公司在波罗的海部署了一些无人水面舰艇，作为北约 X 特遣部队演示的一部分，这些舰艇帮助探测和跟踪在该地区活动的俄罗斯影子舰队舰艇。

去年成立的 X 特遣部队由北约盟军转型司令部 (ACT) 领导，旨在加快无人海上系统的采购、开发和整合到海军作战中。

联盟最高转型部门于 6 月举办了第二次作战演示，对 60 多个美国和法国制造的无人系统进行了压力测试，以评估它们在波罗的海条件下的有效性。

部署的平台中包括四艘 Saildrone 公司的“​​航海家”号（Voyager）十米长无人水面艇，它们在芬兰湾和波罗的海西部作业。

“Saildrone Voyager 每天探测并跟踪数百艘船只，成功识别了演习中的‘红军’，并识别了该地区的真实暗目标，包括俄罗斯影子舰队和军舰，”该公司新闻稿称。

无人船必须应对的一些环境挑战包括在强风和巨浪（浪高超过 2 米（6.5 英尺））中继续作业。

在过去的几个月里，欧洲各国加大了对俄罗斯老旧且往往没有保险的油轮船队的制裁力度，这支船队被称为“影子船队”，用于规避西方禁令并出口石油。

布鲁金斯学会4月份发布的一份报告显示，自2022年以来，俄罗斯秘密船队中的油轮数量稳步增长，其中超过40%的新船是从欧盟卖家处购得的。过去三年，俄罗斯平均每月为其秘密船队新增约7艘船舶，目前该船队规模已达约343艘。

Saildrone 为各国政府提供所谓的“承包商所有和运营”模式，这意味着提供给客户的任何数据都以服务的形式交付。在北约的演示中，无人水面艇收集的信息被整合到参与方的通用作战图上，并通过 Saildrone 任务门户网站提供给北约海上司令部。

今年 2 月，在波罗的海丹麦水域附近，通过 X 特遣部队倡议组织了一次类似的试验，将有人和无人资产整合到实弹射击活动和战术演习中。

根据最近的一份指挥声明，ACT 已将工作重点放在与制造商合作，以“绕过官僚主义的延误”，并在需要时采用市面上现成的系统，从而加快特遣部队的组建。

参与该倡议的各个国家，包括保加利亚、罗马尼亚、土耳其、挪威和英国，将推出以波罗的海第十特遣队框架为蓝本的国家版本，以促进区域国防创新。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。