Drone boats filled with explosives are the new weapon in global terrorism

Source: Business Insider, 04/10/2018

Drone boats filled with explosives have reportedly been used to launch
attacks against Saudi Arabia at sea.
• On Sunday, the Saudi Royal Navy said it intercepted two boats laden
with explosives traveling toward the country`s major port of Jazan,
located north of Yemen.
• And on Tuesday, Saudi border guards said they rescued a Saudi
fishing boat that came under fire from unknown attackers while in Gulf
waters.
• Experts have expressed concern over the Yemeni rebel group having
access to this remote type of weaponry.

Drone-controlled boats filled with explosives were reportedly used in
at least one attempted attack on Saudi Arabia this week.
Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Arab coalition in
Yemen, claimed that the Saudi Royal Navy intercepted two boats laden
with explosives traveling toward the major port of Jazan, located
directly north of the country`s border with Yemen.
Al-Malaki said the Navy spotted two boats approaching the port on
Sunday morning that appeared to be remotely controlled. The boats,
reportedly operated by the Houthi group in Yemen, were destroyed and
caused only minor material damage.
He warned that coalition forces `will strike with iron fist all those
involved in acts of terrorism.`
This is a pilotless vertical take-off and landing drone. The
`Cormorant` can extract battlefield casualties.
`Those hostile acts will not go by without holding the ones executing,
plotting and planning them accountable for their actions.`
On Tuesday, Saudi border guards said they rescued a Saudi fishing boat
that came under fire from unknown attackers while in Gulf waters,
according to Al Arabiya. Border guards said that three fishermen on
board were being treated for injuries, and an investigation into the
origin of attack was underway.
Over the last year, regional forces reportedly intercepted several
drone boat attacks.
In January 2017, Houthi forces struck a Saudi warship using a
remote-controlled boat. And in April 2017, Houthi forces attempted to
blow up a Saudi Aramco fuel terminal and distribution station in Jazan
using a high-speed boat rigged with explosives.
Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, commander of the Bahrain-based US Fifth
Fleet, told Defense News last year that there is concern over the
Yemeni rebel group having access to this remote type of weaponry.
`That`s not an easy thing to develop,` he said. `There`s clearly
support there coming from others, so that`s problematic,` pointing to
production support of the mobile weapons by Iran.
He added that explosive boats create a new category of
self-destructive attacks.
`You don`t need suicide attackers to do a suicide-like attack.`
`So it makes that kind of weaponry, which would normally take someone
suicidal to use, now able to be used by someone who`s not going to
martyr themselves.`