Ukrainian maritime drones redefine warfare in the Black Sea
Despite having the Black Sea Fleet, the Russians have effectively been defeated in the Black Sea by a nation without warships. The key for Ukraine turned out to be maritime drones, which have even evolved into what could be described as aircraft carriers, capable of attacking Russian equipment on land.
Ukrainians attacked the Russian anti-aircraft systems Strela-10 and Osa in the Kherson region. They detected valuable anti-aircraft systems on the coast behind Russian lines and decided to destroy them using maritime drones that functioned as aircraft carriers.
This is another example of the use of a new creation by Group 13 of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), following projects related to anti-aircraft drones. Such actions behind enemy lines demoralize the Russians and force them to deploy additional forces, which could be more useful elsewhere.
Ukrainian unmanned aircraft carrier — based on commercial components
The Ukrainian unmanned aircraft carrier likely builds upon the Magura V5 project. These units resemble motorboats, measuring approximately 5.5 metres long and 1.5 metres wide. They are powered by a jet propulsion system borrowed from a Sea-Doo watercraft, allowing them to reach speeds up to 77 kilometres per hour.
Additionally, this system is equipped with encrypted communication, satellite navigation, a Starlink terminal, and an observation head with a day and thermal camera mounted on a mast. Instead of a 300/600-kilogram warhead, a superstructure is used as a landing pad for FPV drones or "Baba Yaga" drones that carry smaller units, along with a mast with an antenna to improve communication with the drones.
FPV drones can have a range of over 10 kilometres, but using larger drones, such as Baba Yaga, as signal boosters and transporters for FPV drones (there are known cases of such use) can increase the operational range of the strike group to several dozen kilometres. Such harassing attacks can significantly weaken the Russian ability to shoot down Ukrainian strike drones aimed at targets in Crimea.
