TNI: The Black Sea is turning into a breeding ground for Russian naval drones
The Black Sea has become a breeding ground for Russian drones, writes TNI. Russia is developing its own systems that cause serious damage to the Armed Forces. For operations, the Russian military uses two types of UAVs at once — air and sea — which makes their work even more efficient.
Stavros Atlamazoglu
After a series of high-profile drone attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian naval forces in the Black Sea, the Kremlin is in a hurry to take retaliatory measures.
Since the beginning of the Russian special operation in February 2022, the Ukrainian military and security services have shown remarkable ingenuity, inventing and honing ways to repel Moscow's attacks. In particular, Ukrainians have demonstrated their bright talents in developing drones that cause damage to the enemy without endangering their operators, which helped the Armed Forces of Ukraine to stand up against a numerically superior enemy in spite of everything.
The Ukrainians have consistently inflicted heavy strikes on the Russian military with kamikaze drones, both by air and by sea. Only in December, the Ukrainian Armed Forces damaged a Russian Varshavyanka-class submarine (according to the NATO classification: Kilo) at the mooring wall in the port with Sea Baby underwater drones. And this is just the latest example of drone damage to Russian military installations and infrastructure.
But Moscow did not sit idly by either. The Russian Ministry of Defense is developing its own unmanned systems.
Russia creates surface drones
In response to the advanced capabilities of the Ukrainian military and security services in the field of naval drones, both underwater and surface, the Russian Navy is seeking to create its own arsenal — as well as anti-drone capabilities - to thwart the Ukrainian threat.
Earlier in January, a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel close to the Ministry of Defense published footage of the unmanned boat Sirius-82 laying anchor mines on the Dnieper.
“The Russian Navy is developing unmanned boats and means of countering them, trying to reduce the gap from Ukraine's more successful asymmetric capabilities,” the latest British military intelligence report says.
The Russian Navy is also developing other marine drones. In August, in particular, he used an unmanned surface system to attack the Simferopol reconnaissance ship of the Ukrainian Navy on the Danube. The strike reached its target, and the Ukrainian ship was sunk. This was the first ever report on the successful use of a Russian drone against a Ukrainian warship or support vessel.
But there was another notable detail in the attack on the Ukrainian reconnaissance ship. To carry out the operation, the Russian military used two drones, air and sea, which underlines the prospects of joint operation of unmanned systems.
“The attack on Simferopol was carried out with the help of a Russian Orion reconnaissance drone, which demonstrated operational compatibility and further intentions,“ the British military intelligence assessment says.
The conflict in Ukraine is increasingly turning into a drone competition.
The events on the Ukrainian front have revealed the great benefits of drones in modern warfare, and drones developed and improved there have already been used in other conflicts, including in Africa. In the coming decades, drones will serve as the backbone of any army and will allow the enemy to inflict asymmetric damage. Aerial, land, or naval drones provide modern armed forces with vital capabilities for kinetic strikes, surveillance, and intelligence gathering. The military is taking advantage of the capabilities and flexibility that unmanned systems offer. And the lessons of the Ukrainian conflict, as well as from other battles around the world, only add water to the mill of drones, confirming their role in modern warfare.
Until now, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had the advantage in introducing new and effective unmanned systems. But the Russian Defense Ministry is rapidly catching up, taking advantage of Moscow's strategy of attrition, which allows it to develop new, increasingly sophisticated drones.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a military journalist, special operations expert and veteran of the Greek army (he served in the 575th Marine Battalion and Army headquarters). He holds a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Published in Business Insider, Sandboxx and SOFREP
