Understanding Unmanned Naval Systems

Understanding Unmanned Naval Systems

From Chain Reaction by FPRI

December 8, 2025 · 27 min

About this episode

Aaron and Billy Byrne discuss the future of unmanned naval systems and lessons from recent military operations.

We have spent a lot of time talking about Combat Collaborative Aircraft, or CCA. On this episode, Aaron sat down with Billy Byrne, the Director of Strategy for Defense at Saildrone. The two talked about the future of unmanned naval systems, the lessons learned from Ukraine’s operations in the Black Sea, the challenges of operating in the Indo-Pacific, and the need to have both endurance and to “pack a punch” in naval combat. Explore more from Behind the Front here. Get full access to FPRI Insights at fpriinsights.substack.com/subscribe

People in this episode

Host: Aaron

Guest: Billy Byrne

Topics covered

  • unmanned naval systems
  • combat collaborative aircraft
  • defense strategy
  • Ukraine operations
  • naval combat challenges

Keywords

  • unmanned systems
  • naval combat
  • defense strategy
  • Black Sea
  • Indo-Pacific

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Saildrone

Places: Ukraine, Black Sea, Indo-Pacific

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