This small vessel dodging bullets,
as it skips over choppy waters off the coast of Crimea,
is on a mission to attack Russia's Black Sea flagship, the Admiral Makarov.
As it nears the frigate we see a flash
and the live feed is cut.
This was effectively a commando raid, but not as you know it.
There were no elite special forces.
This raid was conducted using a swarm of drones,
nine by air and seven at sea,
attacking Russian ships anchored at the Port of Sevastopol.
The drone we see in the video was made using a standard commercial jetski,
we know this, because a similar model was pictured washed up
further down the Crimean coast.
This cheaply made seaborne drone
taking on Russia's most modern Black Sea Fleet frigate
is an example of a wider shift going on in the way that wars are fought.
This is how advanced mobile robotics is changing the dynamics of modern warfare.
This is Kyiv on the morning of the 17th of October.
Overhead drones swoop through the sky.
First a buzzing sound can be heard,
followed by a large explosion.
This is just one of an estimated 28 attacks launched at Ukraine's capital that day.
Russia has been deploying Iranian-made Shahed 136 drones or Kamikaze drones,
to target Ukrainian troop positions and vehicles,
but also to terrorise civilians
and disable essential infrastructure.
The Shahed 136 is not particularly sophisticated technology,
as it's nickname, 'moped', suggests.
It runs on a lawnmower type engine,
which gives it, its characteristically loud buzzing sound.
Each drone is fitted with an 80-plus pound warhead,
which is more than enough to inflict considerable damage.
And for military hardware, they're pretty cheap,
only around $20,000 a piece.
In contrast Russia's kalibr cruise missiles,
used widely by Moscow in the war, cost roughly $1,000,000 each.
Ukraine has shot down hundreds of these drones so far,
but the secret to Russia's success in using these machines
is that they have a long range and can be launched from the back of a truck
in large numbers.
This can successfully overwhelm air defences,
since only one or two need to get through to destroy their target.
It's not just Russia who's using unmanned aerial vehicles
or UAVs to gain an advantage on the battlefield.
Ukraine regularly relies on drones for reconnaissance, surveillance and attack.
The Ukrainians used Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2s
to attack occupying Russian forces on Snake Island
and utilised modified quadcopters
to drop grenades on unsuspecting Russian infantry and other targets.
The Israeli-made IAI Harop gave Azerbaijan an edge
in the second Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020.
And in 2021 the Ethiopian National Army managed to overturn a dramatic rout
by Tigrayan forces, because of the influence of armed drones.
Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Iran
have emerged at the forefront of UAV production
and are providing many nations with an alternative route to acquiring this technology,
without having to rely on the US or Europe
who have grown reluctant to continue their exports.
Meanwhile Taiwan has recently unveiled its own Kamikaze drones,
amid ongoing tensions with China
and has announced a $1.6bn investment in domestic armed drone production.
But what prompted leading robotics industry companies
to issue this open letter expressing serious concern
is the weaponisation of general purpose robots.
This drone was filmed transporting a robot dog,
also known as a quadrupedal, with a machine gun mounted to its back in China.
And another modified quadrupedal can be seen here,
firing a machine gun at a shooting range in Russia.
Even though these modified devices aren't yet a common feature of the battlefield,
similar military models are being developed.
Like this one, on show at the Association of the US Army's 2021 annual conference.
Despite a growing call to introduce greater controls over the production,
distribution and use of these types of devices,
many armed forces have already invested in a variety of drones,
unmanned weapons and other AI-powered machines
that will increasingly find their way on to the world's battlefields.