--- description: The Navy tests a new way to protect ships. title: Watch a Swarm of Drone Boats Protect a Larger Vessel image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch a Swarm of Drone Boats Protect a Larger Vessel by [Ryan Sager](/author/ryan-sager/) ## Ryan Sager Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 9, 2014 3:50 PM CUT by [Ryan Sager](/author/ryan-sager/) ## Ryan Sager Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 9, 2014 3:50 PM CUT Here’s a unique solution to piracy… autonomous swarms of drone ships to “overwhelm” the enemy. According to the report from IEEE Spectrum, “The system not only steered the autonomous boats but also coordinated its actions with other vehicles—a larger group of manned and remotely-controlled vessels.” No humans were on the boats. (via [IEEE Spectrum](http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/us-navy-robot-boat-swarm "undefined")) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3475261/watch-a-swarm-of-drone-boats-protect-a-larger-vessel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3475261/watch-a-swarm-of-drone-boats-protect-a-larger-vessel/"},"headline":"Watch a Swarm of Drone Boats Protect a Larger Vessel","datePublished":"2014-10-09T15:50:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:36:40.201Z","description":"The Navy tests a new way to protect ships","url":"https://time.com/3475261/watch-a-swarm-of-drone-boats-protect-a-larger-vessel/","keywords":["Innovation"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Sager","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-sager/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3475261/watch-a-swarm-of-drone-boats-protect-a-larger-vessel/","name":"Watch a Swarm of Drone Boats Protect a Larger Vessel"}}]}] ```