It must have been one heck of a shock for Russian troops who thought themselves safe behind terrain barriers and extensive minefields miles behind the front line during Ukraine’s recent Operation Vivaldi offensive on the eastern front in Donetsk. What no one expected was heavy-capacity drones air-delivering kamikaze unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) directly on top of Russian headquarters and command posts to make precision strikes.

The attack was an audacious tactical move that married air and ground drones together in a joint operation that extended the range of drone operations. Big drones carrying smaller drones, called marsupials, mark the ascendancy of large mother drones capable of delivering hordes of smaller drones to the battlefield. The drone mothership concept is being applied across land, sea and air domains, with their use limited only by the imaginations of their operators. In the Operation Vivaldi episode, the UGV strikes against Russian drone base camps and artillery positions effectively blinded the Russians to the advance of mechanized assault columns that were able to reclaim significant territory. The UGVs used by Ukraine’s Third Army Corps used Bullspike grenade launchers in their assault. Among the UGVs was an amphibious model used for the first time to cross rivers and other water obstacles.

The drone mothership concept has lots of variants. Indra, a Spanish drone manufacturer, now offers a long-range Drizzle mothership drone that can fly at 30,000 feet, releasing a “drizzle” of smaller, inexpensive drone interceptors as required.

In the U.S., Heven AeroTech is a Virginia-based maker of long-endurance, hydrogen-powered drones that is focused on reusable mothership platforms that can be used for a variety of missions. The U.S Army, meanwhile, is testing ModalAI’s autonomous swarm mothership called Chariot to see how well it can control individual “daughter” drones amidst a swarm of 100.

The pace of American drone innovation may be driven by the creation of a new Autonomous Warfare Command proposed by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. AutoWarCom would be a four-star command that would stand up on October 1, 2027. The move comes after a U.S. Army-based unit in Europe that specialized in drone warfare was ordered to return to traditional infantry battalion duties. That Pentagon decision was heavily criticized across Congressional bi-partisan lines as a step backward.

In the meantime, the existing three-month-old drone acquisition program is being renamed Project Agincourt. A military drone marketplace is speeding up drone deliveries to service units. The marketplace was bolstered Tuesday by 10 contracts worth $4.15 billion to seven companies to supply drone technology indefinitely.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is taking the mothership concept to sea with its new Magura MV11 uncrewed surface vessel (USV). The MV11 is loaded with 18 small, vertically launched Sting interceptors that can operate in the open ocean for a week. The Magura is made by Uforce, a company founded in Ukraine but now headquartered in London. An American boatbuilder called Reconcraft reportedly will build Magura drones in the U.S. Magura sea drones gained a reputation after forcing Russia’s Black Sea fleet to leave its long-time port at Sevastopol. Reconcraft already makes combat craft for U.S. Special Forces.

China is going large with the mothership concept, building what’s likely to be the world’s first full-size drone submarine carrier, according to Naval News. The Chinese submarine is reportedly an unmanned vessel measuring between 115 and 148 feet in size referred to as XXLUUVs (extra extra large uncrewed underwater vehicles). It appears to have the capacity to carry four smaller but still relatively large submersible drones which would be kept inside an internal hangar until put on a large cradle for launch and recovery. The vessel has been spotted being built using satellite imagery although China has not confirmed its purpose.

China’s interest in underwater drones is becoming well-documented. Two Chinese universities recently set a world record by controlling an underwater swarm of 116 drones autonomously. The swarm navigated a preset course in a swimming pool without human control. The feat was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.