While the Navy has used drones before for mineclearing and other defensive tasks, the small boat (similar to that pictured above) is the first experiment to involve true offensive capabilities.
"The rats are relatively fast and accurate compared to other techniques, " said Christophe Cox, head of a mine-clearing group called Apopo in Morogoro, Tanzania.
However, before he was demobbed, he was drafted on duty aboard another mine sweeper with responsibility for clearing the inshore minefields between Boulogne and Dieppe off the French coast.