The ubiquitous Drone (military parlance is UAV for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) is now becoming a daily sight aboard the Navy’s new Mark VI Patrol boats.  Below, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Neil Wierboski prepares an unmanned aerial vehicle for launch aboard a Mark VI patrol boat during training conducted by the Coastal Riverine Group 1 Training and Evaluation Unit in the Middle East, May 9, 2018. Wierboski is assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron 3.

These new Navy patrol boats can operate over a distance of some 500 Nautical Miles (approximately 575 statute miles) on only one tank of gas. Watch the short video down below this photograph to see these new fast (over 45 mph) patrol boats and drones in action. The boats are propelled by a two jet engine propulsion system and controlled, much as the modern fighter aircraft today, by a Fly-By-Wire technology, which is to say they are controlled by electronics rather than by either the old physical cable system coupling a steering wheel to the rudder(s) or by hydraulic driven rudders.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Neil Wierboski prepares an UAV for launch-aboard a Mark VI patrol boat off the Coast.

The below video is 7:51 in length.

But, while the Mark VI is a manned patrol boat, we have also moved autonomous guidance into the boats as well as into the air surrounding them.  See the (below) 12:31 long video about autonomous boats deployment advantages.