A first, Marines launch FPV drone at unmanned vessel while aboard naval craft

U.S. Marines with Expeditionary Operations Training Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, and Naval Special Warfare operators struck an unmanned vessel with a small first-person view (FPV) drone launched from a boat in the Pacific last month. This marks the first time Marines and Naval Special Warfare operators achieved such a strike, demonstrating a new capability for the amphibious branch. Marines with III Expeditionary Operations Training Group out of Okinawa, Japan, designed the unmanned surface vessel themselves. Marine Corps Maj. Brant Wayson, unmanned systems branch officer in charge, stated this capability "arms a platoon’s worth of Marines with the organic capability to deny a brigade-sized element from conducting an amphibious assault." The service touted the test as proof of partnership and an ability to locate and destroy hostile maritime targets with innovative technology.