Who is helping Kiev modernize marine drones and how can Russia respond to this
Attacks by Ukrainian unmanned boats on Russian ships and facilities in Crimea have already become regular. In the absence of its own fleet, Kiev relies on this new type of weapons. Izvestia investigated how the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the help of the West, modernize and improve unmanned boats, and what forces and means Russia has to deal with them.
From the depths of time
The technology of kamikaze ships itself came from the depths of centuries. Then, however, they were called fire-ships. They were widely used in the age of Sail. Perhaps one of the most famous cases of the use of fire-ships was the Battle of Chesma, when Russian sailors burned the Turkish fleet in the bay of the same name in 1770. Later in the era of Steam, the fire ships went away as such. But the Italians, great masters of all kinds of special operations at sea, revived them before the Second World War. High-speed boats of the MTM type were made with a load of explosives in the bow. The driver of the boat accelerated it, aimed at the enemy and jumped overboard. Once such an attack in Souda Bay on the island of Crete was successful with losses for the British during the WWII. There were no more successes, the competent defense of the island of Malta stopped the attempts of Italian attacks. The Japanese went further, the driver had to drive the boat for the rest of his life. However, all their efforts were useless.
I. Aivazovsky's painting "The Chesma Battle". Burning ships of the Ottoman Fleet after the attack of Russian fire ships during the Battle of Chesma, June 24-26 (July 5-7), 1770
Image Source: Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Ukraine has not had its own distinct Navy since its independence. And after February 24, 2024, what was left was quickly refilled. Therefore, Ukraine has relied on unmanned boats in the war at sea, and is currently using a new generation of marine drones.
The second generation of Ukrainian BEC
In general, the BACK itself does not represent anything complicated in technical terms, in fact it is an ordinary motor boat. The control system and payload turn it into a weapon. The optoelectronic equipment combined with the Starlink communication terminal and navigation systems acts as a control system. Drone operators themselves are integrated into the general intelligence and information field created by NATO satellites, all means of reconnaissance and navigation support. The drone uses an inertial guidance system and GPS satellite navigation to enter a given area, after which the operator begins his work through visual guidance via Starlink. The other day, SpaceX announced that it managed to make a video call from a mobile phone via the StarLink satellite thanks to the new DtC technology. It should be expected that in the near future the StarLink antennas on boats will be replaced by conventional smartphones.
Ukrainian marine drone Magura V5
Image source: Photo: TASS/AP/Daniyar Sarsenov
Currently, Ukraine uses second-generation drones Magura, SeaBaby and Mamai. By and large, these boats are rather foreign developments, for media purposes passed off as Ukrainian offspring. During the development of these boats, their commercial stuffing was preserved, that is, engines and electronics can be safely bought on any civilian market. The characteristics of the boats are only partially disclosed. They are 5-7 meters long. The Mamai has a hull length of 7 meters, a speed of 110 km/ h, and a payload of one ton. Presumably, the Magura V5 can travel 450 nautical miles, accelerates to 78 km/h at the exit to the attack and carries a payload of up to 320 kg. SeaBaby is capable of carrying up to 1200 kg and can be used reusable.
If earlier Ukraine used the back in the role of kamikaze boats exclusively, then recently there has been a process of arming boats with various light combat systems.
Guided and unguided missiles
It quickly became clear that military helicopters of various types, such as combat type Ka-52 or Mi-24, as well as naval transport and combat Ka-29 are perhaps the best means of destroying backups. With great firepower and maneuverability, helicopters can easily hit such targets. Therefore, air-to-air missiles of the R-73 type began to be installed on drones. This is a Soviet-era rocket with an infrared guidance head. The presence of such a weapon on boats will force the crews of our helicopters to be more attentive and perform anti-missile maneuvers, which will reduce the likelihood of destroying a floating target.
Ka-29 helicopter at the military airfield in Yeysk
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Georgy Zimarev
Recently, photos of the SeaBaby back with six launchers for launching unguided projectiles (NURS) of the Grad type appeared on the Internet. During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet sailors put Katyusha rockets on torpedo and armored boats to increase their combat capabilities. There is a variant of the SeaBaby boat with an installed pair of blocks of unguided B-8B20A aircraft projectiles, from which C-8 type NURS or their analogues can be used. By itself, shooting NURSES from a single drone is an activity based on the principle of shooting somewhere in the direction with a minimum probability of hitting the target. For military purposes, a single BACK with NURSES is an almost useless weapon. There is only sense in the massive use of such drones. Then there is already a non-zero probability of damage. However, it must be understood that the operator from the backup sees only at the level of the sea surface, respectively, this limits the guidance.
Ukrainian marine drone Sea Baby during testing
Image Source: Photo: AP Photo
It is also known about a variant of such a boat with grenade launchers mounted on it. There is an AR-8L missile made on the basis of the NURS S-8 with laser guidance. But the target of the attack must be in line of sight, lasers work that way, and the use of such a solution is questionable. Probably, the use of guided missiles with an active guidance head, like the British Brimstone missiles.
Mines and torpedoes
On February 20, 2024, Sweden announced the next supply of weapons to Ukraine, this package, in addition to speedboats, included unnamed underwater weapons; presumably, we are talking about mines and torpedoes. Since there are simply no carriers of this type of weapon left in Ukraine, it can be suspected that in the event of an increase in the size of a SeaBaby-type back-up or the like, they will be able to deliver underwater mines to the areas where ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are based and put them on the routes of maritime transport. Then it will be necessary to carry out minesweeping escort of civilian naval vessels and carry out control clearance of the fairways of naval bases.
Swedish light torpedo SLWT
Image source: Photo: Saab
Sweden can supply light torpedoes of the SLWT type. They began to be produced in 2022. SLWT can hit both surface ships and submarines at a depth of more than 300 meters, has a speed of more than 40 knots, active and passive guidance systems and a target destruction range of 20 km. The weight of the warhead is 50 kg, with a total torpedo weight of 340 kg, with a length of 2.85 meters and a diameter of 400 mm. In the case of using SeaBaby as a torpedo backup, there is also a very big threat to our warships and civilian vessels, since the torpedo goes into a more vulnerable underwater part of the ship.
Find and destroy
The main advantage of the BACK is a fairly cheap weapon that can be assembled from imported parts in almost any garage. If a Russian rocket arrives in such a garage, it doesn't matter, there are more garages. The small size makes it easier to covertly deliver and disguise these weapons. The enemy uses the backups themselves in a joint strike with cruise missiles and drones. Then there are chances of causing at least some damage, at least media damage.
Ukrainian unmanned boat "Mamai"
Image source: Photo: Social media
Even during the war against Nazism, the folk wisdom was born that the best air defense is tanks at enemy airfields. To paraphrase it this way: the best defense against marine drones is our complete control over the enemy's coast. But until the coast is taken, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive constant monitoring of all types of reconnaissance over the sea surface off the Ukrainian coast and defeat: there are signs of a place of assembly or storage of boats — a rocket should fly there immediately. Boats appeared on the sea surface — first of all, attack aircraft of naval aviation work on them, then combat helicopters come into play. And at the last level, already off our shores, constant monitoring of the adjacent marine area and the destruction of such boats with all available types of our weapons should be carried out.
Dmitry Boltenkov