The Matchbox RC Boats of RIMPAC

We’ve covered lots of RIMPAC 26 stuff, but some small players are easily missed. We speak, of course, to the ever-growing array of unmanned surface vehicles present in the exercise. First off, let’s give it up to the U.S. Navy Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC) USVs from USVDIV (Unmanned Surface Vessel Division) 32, which took part in the SINKEX of ex-USS Peleliu (LHA 5). A released Navy video shows two of the boats circling the battered hulk of the 40,000-ton ‘phib– and the old Peleliu soaked up the damage for sure– before they closed in to mimic a Japanese Shinyo suicide speedboat of 1944; only the remote operators got to live. The Black Sea Tech GARC runs 15.8 feet, can make 40 knots in a sprint, and carry a half-ton payload. Keep in mind the small boat used in the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole is believed to have carried only between 400 and 700 pounds of C-4 plastic explosives; it created a 40×40-foot hole in the DDG that nearly sent her to the bottom. Of note,…