Mystery deepens around unmanned 'spy boat'

[Eldorado]

Last week a small unmanned vessel washed up on the rocky Scottish Isle of Tiree, about a hundred miles from the UK’s nuclear submarine base as Faslane.

It was identified as a Wave Glider, a type made by U.S. company Liquid Robotics, capable of traveling thousands of miles and used by both the U.S. Navy and Britain’s Royal Navy as well as other government agencies and scientific researchers.

The local Coastguard have been unable to trace the owner so far, but the craft’s configuration suggests it was on a secret mission.

Full story at Forbes magazine: Lnik

Mysterious Autonomous Boat Drifts Ashore on Isle of Tiree, Scotland

Full report at the Maritime Executive: Link

[Buzz_Light_Year]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if U.S. spooks were spying on the UK.

[Jon the frog]

That thing is small !

[skliss]

They don't mention if there were other kinds of equipment on board other than solar panels. Or any mention of serial  numbers, etc. The whole thing seems oddly lacking in information.

[jethrofloyd]

It reminds me of one of the Q’s gadgets from the James Bond movies.

 

[esoteric_toad]

Love the jump to the spy boat conclusion. Likely a research project. Gotta keep the world fretting over something though. As if there isn't enough to wring hands over if so predisposed.

[toast]

The US is a supplier of military equipment to the UK so it seems obvious that the action was a test run, but a failed one I would say.

[Rolltide]

Wave Glider

 

https://www.boeing.com/defense/autonomous-systems/wave-glider/#/video/wave-glider-how-it-works

[ExoPaul]

The shocking part is that someone didn't strip it for parts.

I have been to Tiree and it is a tiny island off the coast of Scotland and faces a lot of bad weather from the Atlantic ocean. Chances are that a storm pushed it onshore.

It is worth noting that the area around Tiree is often used for war games with the Navy, RAF and Army. In fact, only this week they are having problems trying to shift whales out of the area so they can conduct a massive submarine/navy exercise where they do war games with several other countries, without the submarine and boat sonar affecting the local wildlife.
It is entirely possible it is actually a spy boat used by the Navy (UK, US or other EU country) but was taking part in past naval exercises where it was attempting to detect friendly submarines as part of the exercise, rather than actually spying on another country.
Having said that, it is more likely to be recovered if it had any data on board on how to detect an allied submarine, whereas a research project might be less of a worry if lost. 
 

Edited October 8, 2020 by ExoPaul