Drone runs drone: as the Armed Forces again changes the course of war on the Black Sea

Last month, the Ukrainian Navy conducted a comprehensive operation from the attack of former oil platforms of Russian troops in the Black Sea. In 35 months that have passed since Russia has expanded the war against Ukraine, many similar raids have been carried out, but December surgery became special. She marked the debut of a new type of unmanned surface (USV) in the Ukrainian service.

This new USV nose has tiny FPV unmanned aerial vehicles, each of which was equipped with several pounds of explosives. UAVs launched their unmanned aerial vehicles - at least four pieces - and they crashed into Russian equipment on platforms, as well as several Russian servicemen who install this equipment. Ukrainian Navy and Intelligence Administration has been using UAVs from the very beginning of a large-scale war with Russia.

Along with the winged landing rockets, 18-foot drones are the main marine shock weapon of Ukrainians. Moving on hundreds of miles under remote control with the help of explosives embedded in the nasal part, USV is essentially maneuverable torpedes. During the previous raids on Russian Crimean parking, these filled USV explosives were sinking a corvette, a landing ship, a patrol boat and a tugboat.

They also damaged the supports of the Strategic Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea occupied by Russia with Russia. But by December, unmanned boats never engaged in their own drones. A month later, on January 6 and 8, USV drones have struck new blows, struck by Russian air defense agents and other goals located along the coast north of the Crimea.

For the Navy, which has virtually no large warships-those who were in service before Putin's large-scale war, lasted for a long time after the invasion of Russian UAVs equipped with USV, solve a complex problem. The Ukrainian Fleet buys new ships in the United Kingdom and Turkey, but cannot bring them into the Black Sea until the end of the fighting, as Turkey has closed the Bosphorus Strait for both sides. One USV costs only $ 250,000. The loss of one - or many - is not a disaster.

And for clarity: most of the unmanned boats that Ukrainians unfold will never go through Russian defense. But a few USVs have slid past Russian patrol boats and helicopters to cause serious harm to Russian warships. After almost three years of continuous Ukrainian attacks, the Black Sea Fleet of Russia lost one third of its pre -war ships.

Feeling opportunities, the Ukrainians began to install remotely controlled weapons on USV, including guns to deter patrol boats and anti -aircraft missiles to combat helicopters. On the eve of the New Year, the Ukrainian USV for the first time knocked the Russian helicopter. The initial weapons sets were defensive. Usv is now receiving offensive weapons in the form of a unilateral attack.

FPV drones, each of which weighs only a few pounds and acts at a distance of five miles or so, give robotic boats the opportunity to attack land for the first time. It is a striking development that requires durable, waterproof equipment, reliable satellite communications and a team of skilled operators who separately control boats and their drones. And the most striking-that the current combination-an unmanned FPV-Dron boat-can only be the beginning.

Ukrainian Land Forces already have large unmanned "mats", which can accommodate smaller FPV drones in the air, thus increasing the range of unilateral attacks by 10 or more miles. If Ukrainians are able to launch drones from USV ships, they will be able to increase the lane of land attacks of unmanned boats. And so, it will be a drone that runs from the drone from the drone. Or drone drone. The author expresses a personal opinion that may not coincide with the editorial position.