Telegraph: Britain Plans To Fight Russian Federation's Shadow Fleet James Bond Style

• 16.02.2026, 20:52

British special forces can use drone boats that "look like they've stepped off the pages of a movie."

British special forces may use "James Bond-style" drone boats to hunt Russian shadow fleet vessels, the Telegraph quoted sources as saying.

They resemble Bond's jet boat, the Q Boat, built for the 1999 film "And the Whole World Is Not Enough," starring Pierce Brosnan as Agent 007.

But unlike the Q Boat, these vessels, built by Kraken Technology in Hampshire, are unmanned and have already been tested by NATO in the Baltic Sea.

The boats are named K3 Scout. They consist of a special lightweight composite fiberglass hull, are 36 feet (about 11 m) long, have a maximum speed of 50-55 knots (about 93-102 km/h) and the maximum distance they can travel is 650 nautical miles (more than 1,200 km) at 25 knots (almost 47 km/h). These vessels can stay at sea for up to 30 days, their maximum displacement is 2550 kg, payload is 600 kg. Their cost is estimated at 280,000 pounds (€322,000).

Interlocutors claim that the Special Boat Service, an elite special forces unit of the British Navy, is studying the possibility of using such boats in secret missions in the future.

"These boats are like stepping off the pages of a James Bond movie," said retired intelligence colonel Philip Ingram.

Mel Chris, Kraken's chief executive, said the new high-tech vessels could play an important role in securing undersea cables and pipelines, as well as offshore wind farms and oil platforms.