Photo Credit: Public Domain via the US Federal Government

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In the Black Sea, Russia’s fleet has almost ceased to exist, thanks to a weapon we think of as ultra-modern. Except it isn’t. The first naval drone was German; its first casualty was an Ipswich man, and the year was 1917!

Dr Phil Judkins traces the history of naval drones and missiles, and defences against them, over the last century – a story with many surprises. In the Second World War, Germany’s devices, little recorded in history, sank one battleship, crippled two more, sank one heavy cruiser and crippled two more; even less recorded is that Britain’s first response was using electric shavers to jam radio command signals. Not admitted for over 20 years was the biggest single loss of life at sea to US forces, which occurred in an almost unknown battle between 40 German missiles and two US shipborne radio jammers.

The use of similar missiles is traced through the Falklands, and then brought up to date with the rapid pace of development in the Ukraine, and of British anti-drone devices such as DragonFire and the less romantically-named Ealing Project.

The lecture concludes with contemplation of the future of Britain’s naval carrier forces against the potential opposition of Chinese stealth Ju Tian drone ‘mother-ships’, each capable of carrying sizeable drone swarms with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) capability thousands of miles before release.

About the Speaker

Dr Phil Judkins’ love of industrial archaeology stems from his childhood playground being an abandoned Victorian waterworks, with no Health and Safety to concern him! Cambridge’s Classical Archaeology course led to several years in ‘dirt archaeology’, followed by a management career which ranged from the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment to the City of London. Phil then gave structure to his abiding interest of historic defence electronics through a Cranfield PhD in the history of radar, and successive Fellowships at the UK’s Defence Academy and at Buckingham University’s Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies.

He currently chairs the Defence Electronics History Society and the Purbeck Radar Museum Trust, in addition to serving on the Committee of the South Yorkshire Newcomen Society, and lectures on defence topics throughout the UK, Phil’s particular perspective is to present the role of electronics in conflict as seen by all the contending parties, rather than from a single national perspective, so that he welcomes collaboration with colleagues internationally.