Luxury yachts: Drone defense for ships is in greater demand than ever

For more than ten years, the annoying whirring of drones filming what’s going on on deck and trying to take beautiful shots of the ships has been part of everyday life near the coast for some yacht owners. As if that wasn’t bad enough, remote control attacks are becoming more common in commercial and military shipping. For some, it’s clearly high time to act.

As “” reports, the market for private drone defense systems is growing steadily. Accordingly, more and more yacht owners are turning to the few specialized companies that offer such technologies at prices of over four million US dollars. The London and Monaco-based manufacturer MARSS has already equipped several private ships, it is said.

Although no drone attacks on private yachts have been reported so far, fear seems to be growing. The problem with prying eyes, however, is well known, so an effective defense solves two problems at once, one of which is acute.

According to manufacturer MARSS, the greatest interest in the additional bodies appears to be from the Emirates. But there are limitations: International laws prohibit some defensive measures, so solutions for private mega-yachts are more limited. Although it is permitted to locate drones using technical means, shooting down the aircraft is not permitted. Nevertheless, there is great interest in such additional equipment.

The MARSS system is capable of tracking small to medium-sized drones over a distance of up to 20 kilometers. To do this, it relies on radars, sensors, cameras and AI. With a corresponding extension, it is also possible to detect threats on the water surface and under water, such as divers.

MARSS assumes that an early warning is enough for many customers. If a danger is detected, there is enough time, depending on the situation, to bring VIPs to safety and inform the local authorities. But things probably look different on the open sea. For example, if an attack were to be carried out with a fixed-wing drone whose operating radius is much larger, detection would no longer be of much use: the time between detection and impact would be very short at drone speeds of up to 300 km/h.

It is therefore not surprising that simply tracking does not seem to go far enough for some yacht owners. In an interview with “The War Zone”, the managing director of MARSS revealed that he also knew customers who had expanded his company’s systems to include active defense functions. The CEO of another security company agreed and added that there are certainly ways to install something like this, but that export controls and laws require “creative approaches.” As of today, this is still rare, they say.

But there doesn’t seem to be a particularly great need, despite all the developments in unmanned aviation. As “The War Zone” also reports, the appearance of defense systems has played a major role for many owners. The product will only sell if the cameras and sensors fit seamlessly into the optics of the ships. Real panic looks different, but experts say that could change rapidly after the first documented attack.