U.S Navy Launches Spike Missiles From Unmanned Boats

The U.S. Navy has announced that it has launched six Israeli-made Spike missiles from an unmanned 36-foot motorboat last week. The project is called the unmanned surface vehicle precision engagement module (USV PEM). "The USV PEM project was developed in response to recent world events which have increased the concern over swarms of small attack craft, as well as threat assessments outlined in recent studies conducted by the Naval Warfare Development Command," said NAVSEA Naval Special Warfare Assistant Program Manager Mark Moses in a press release. "The study punctuates the effectiveness of these swarm attacks against both military re-supply ships and naval vessels. Technology demonstrated in this project can provide a capability to combat terrorists who use small low-cost vehicles as weapons platforms". The project is part of a joint-U.S.-Israeli collaboration run out of the US Navy's sea systems command's Special Warfare Program Office. The same shop is responsible for, among other things, fielding a number of tiny submarines used to listen for enemy submarines, deliver Navy SEALS and other secret squirrel activities. Foreign Policy