During the UMEX 2026 arms exhibition held in the United Arab Emirates, Chinese defense company Norinco presented a model of its new UB1 Sharp Shark-10 unmanned boat.
The exhibition demonstrated a model armed with a remotely controlled machine gun, probably 12.7mm or 14.5mm caliber. Also on board were 6 transport-launch containers with kamikaze drones or small guided vertical launch missiles. OSINT analyst H I Sutton reports this.
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In addition, one can see two landing pads for probably reconnaissance drones for better situational awareness of operators. By its other parameters, UB1 Sharp Shark-10 has displacement of about 10 tons, maximum speed 40 knots (74 km/h).
UB1 Sharp Shark-10 is about 12.5 meters long. Also on board is already standard equipment set for this type of drones. Specifically, this is an optical station, small radar station, probably satellite communication antenna, and other sensors.
This unmanned boat is probably intended for hunting enemy USVs. For this it has a machine gun, as well as small kamikaze drones, which should fit this role perfectly. In turn, reconnaissance UAVs, which should also be installed on board, should help detect such small targets that easily hide among waves.
Defense Express also adds that Ukrainian unmanned boats have similar armament set or capability to carry it. However, they have significantly smaller dimensions. So, for example, first Sea Baby models were 6 meters long, and arguably the largest Ukrainian USV new generation Sea Baby, is probably about 8 meters long.
At the same time, on board it has full-fledged stabilized Tavria 14.5 combat module and two containers with FPV drones, or 10 guides from 122mm Grad MLRS. Moreover, thanks to maximum payload capacity of 2 tons, Sea Baby can probably take other equipment or warhead for striking ships, as in this version it seemingly received modular weapons system. In this version, Sea Baby has maximum range up to 1,500 km.
However, for China this may prove insufficient in case of full-scale war. Of course, for controlling waters around Taiwan this will be more than enough, but if considering more globally and taking into account Japan, Philippines and Philippine Sea, this will be insufficient.
Especially considering that China most likely views its unmanned fleet more as reusable means, and this means fuel must be enough for return journey too, which doubles necessary fuel reserve. It's also not excluded that large warhead could be installed on board, so that if necessary, one could try to strike conditional American destroyer, or self-destruct to avoid capture.
Another explanation for such large dimensions may be one detail that can be seen on presented model visible in rear part of UB1 Sharp Shark-10 in engine area under superstructure, there's such certain platform.
One can make cautious assumption that in future they may install necessary modules with equipment or armament there, like naval mines or towed sonars for detecting submarines and unmanned submarines.
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