Why navies may not need a dedicated drone-boat destroyer

Will navies create a specialized destroyer or frigate variant for attacking drone boats?

Probably not, because armed Lynx and Wildcat helicopters already offer a flexible specialist capability against small surface craft.

The proposed return of a dedicated small-boat or drone-boat destroyer assumes the fleet needs a new hull for the mission. The panel answers that the naval helicopter already fills much of that role. Lynx and later Wildcat variants can search beyond the ship's horizon and attack small craft with rockets, Sea Skua, or Martlet missiles. That aviation detachment can move between ships and concentrate quickly without committing an entire frigate design to one threat. A new specialist class is therefore less attractive unless the drone-boat problem exceeds what embarked aviation can handle.