It's fearless, and it's killing the Russian navy.I mean, literally killing them — hunting them and sinking them, in the darkness of night. So successful, in fact, that the Mad Russian has had to relocate some of his naval ships from the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea.I'm speaking, of course, about advanced sea drones deployed by Ukraine in its war against Russia.These silent Ukrainian forces claim to have destroyed or damaged at least two dozen Russian ships. Furthermore, their mere presence is having a greater, possibly more strategic, impact. Russia is having to shift its supply lines. And as the invasion of Ukraine has shown, supply lines are key.So what is the deal with these suicide drone boats that explode upon impact, transmitting the entire show on camera back to base operators — where it is often posted on YouTube and other websites.The two-year-old Ukraine conflict has become a laboratory for new military technology and naval drones are set to become an essential part of the combat toolbox in 21st-century warfare, c4isrnet.com reported.Make no mistake, these things have put the fear of God into navy top brass around the world.Imagine what two or more drone boats could do to an aircraft carrier.It started out innocently enough — these drones have been employed for scientific research, search and rescue operations, surveillance and coastal patrols for years.All good things.But Ukraine saw a different application and has loaded them with explosives. Sleek and relatively silent, these vessels speed across the water’s surface, trailing a wake of white foam, c4isrnet.com reported. The low radar signature makes them hard to detect and they are equipped with advanced GPS and cameras.The Magura V5 (named after a Slavic goddess of war) sea drone that Ukraine says it has used in the Black Sea, appears to be Kyiv’s latest version — a craft that wouldn’t look out of place in a James Bond movie.Q, James Bond's iconic spy gadget man, would be envious, no doubt..According to sources, the Magura is 5.5-metres (18-feet) long, weighs up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds), has a range of up to 800 kilometers (500 miles), boasts a 60-hour battery life and a 200-kilogram (440-pound) payload."It doesn't emit a lot of heat, so it's almost invisible for thermal cameras. It's made from plastic, therefore even radars struggle to see it," one confidential source told the BBC.The drone is controlled from base via a satellite link. Carried in a long, black, hard-shell briefcase, it holds a bespoke, multi-screened mission control — essentially an elaborate gaming center, complete with levers, joysticks, a monitor and buttons that have covers over switches that shouldn’t be accidentally knocked, with labels such as “blast.”"You can control it from any part of the world if you have internet," said the source.He admits Russian electronic warfare systems can jam the signal, but he claims the drones are able to overcome it. He did not elaborate how.Judging by footage of past attacks, several drones are usually involved in a single attack in order to boost the chances of hitting the target.Operations to hunt down a warship can last for days. Operators must stay focused the entire time. "After finishing my work, I'm as exhausted as a squeezed lemon," the source said.Moscow has repeatedly accused NATO allies of gathering intelligence to assist Ukrainian strikes on Russian forces, while the latter has been discounted as "disinformation." It's not out of the realm of possibility, of course.Another drone that is larger than the Madura, called Sea Baby, was shown to a select group of media.The latest Sea Baby model is capable of carrying 850 kilograms (1,900 pounds) of explosives, hits a top speed of 90 kph (56 mph) and can cover a distance of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).Agile by design, these unmanned hunter killers, are being used to target Russian shipping and infrastructure in the Black Sea.As a result, it has helped Kyiv resume some grain exports abroad — a crucial piece of Ukraine's fragile economy.Last July, two Ukrainian maritime drones hit the Kerch Bridge, a key supply route linking Russia to Crimea, forcing its temporary closure. Unconfirmed reports said a Sea Baby drone was used in that strike.The following month, Ukrainian sea drones struck a Russian port and damaged a warship, officials said.And in early March of this year, a special operations unit destroyed the large patrol ship Sergey Kotov overnight. The ship, which Ukraine said was commissioned in 2021 and was hit near the Kerch Strait, reportedly can carry cruise missiles.Weaponry aboard Russian ships was not designed with drones in mind, so they have to rely on cannons that are better suited to duels with other ships, experts say — yet another advantage for the elusive drones.The latter are also capable of tight turns at speed, something Russian warships cannot do.Ukrainian know-how and ingenuity are behind the development of the new generation of sea drones.They are locally designed and tested, but some components are sourced abroad. The builder of the boats wishes to remain anonymous.United24, a government crowdfunding organization that elicits donations from companies and individuals worldwide, collects the funding.Though the sea drones aren’t cheap — each Magura, for example, comes in at around US$250,000 and the new model Sea Baby costs around US$221,000 — they can damage or sink a ship worth hundreds of millions of dollars.Having lost almost its entire naval fleet following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine has nevertheless managed to resist Russia's attempts to dominate in the Black Sea.Under relentless attacks, Moscow was forced to withdraw the core of its fleet from Crimea and move them further east, to Novorossiysk. And even there, Russian ships remain within reach of Ukrainian drones.Moscow’s oil and gas infrastructure has also come under threat, with a drone attack on a Russian oil terminal about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of St. Petersburg.Russians “started waking up at night during explosions,” Ukraine’s defence intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told CNN in late January. “They see the real picture of war.”Being outgunned and outnumbered in the war against its bigger neighbour, Ukraine’s daring sea drone attacks have lifted morale considerably and given Vlad Putin the punch in the face he so deserves.— with files from Associated Press
It's fearless, and it's killing the Russian navy.I mean, literally killing them — hunting them and sinking them, in the darkness of night. So successful, in fact, that the Mad Russian has had to relocate some of his naval ships from the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea.I'm speaking, of course, about advanced sea drones deployed by Ukraine in its war against Russia.These silent Ukrainian forces claim to have destroyed or damaged at least two dozen Russian ships. Furthermore, their mere presence is having a greater, possibly more strategic, impact. Russia is having to shift its supply lines. And as the invasion of Ukraine has shown, supply lines are key.So what is the deal with these suicide drone boats that explode upon impact, transmitting the entire show on camera back to base operators — where it is often posted on YouTube and other websites.The two-year-old Ukraine conflict has become a laboratory for new military technology and naval drones are set to become an essential part of the combat toolbox in 21st-century warfare, c4isrnet.com reported.Make no mistake, these things have put the fear of God into navy top brass around the world.Imagine what two or more drone boats could do to an aircraft carrier.It started out innocently enough — these drones have been employed for scientific research, search and rescue operations, surveillance and coastal patrols for years.All good things.But Ukraine saw a different application and has loaded them with explosives. Sleek and relatively silent, these vessels speed across the water’s surface, trailing a wake of white foam, c4isrnet.com reported. The low radar signature makes them hard to detect and they are equipped with advanced GPS and cameras.The Magura V5 (named after a Slavic goddess of war) sea drone that Ukraine says it has used in the Black Sea, appears to be Kyiv’s latest version — a craft that wouldn’t look out of place in a James Bond movie.Q, James Bond's iconic spy gadget man, would be envious, no doubt..According to sources, the Magura is 5.5-metres (18-feet) long, weighs up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds), has a range of up to 800 kilometers (500 miles), boasts a 60-hour battery life and a 200-kilogram (440-pound) payload."It doesn't emit a lot of heat, so it's almost invisible for thermal cameras. It's made from plastic, therefore even radars struggle to see it," one confidential source told the BBC.The drone is controlled from base via a satellite link. Carried in a long, black, hard-shell briefcase, it holds a bespoke, multi-screened mission control — essentially an elaborate gaming center, complete with levers, joysticks, a monitor and buttons that have covers over switches that shouldn’t be accidentally knocked, with labels such as “blast.”"You can control it from any part of the world if you have internet," said the source.He admits Russian electronic warfare systems can jam the signal, but he claims the drones are able to overcome it. He did not elaborate how.Judging by footage of past attacks, several drones are usually involved in a single attack in order to boost the chances of hitting the target.Operations to hunt down a warship can last for days. Operators must stay focused the entire time. "After finishing my work, I'm as exhausted as a squeezed lemon," the source said.Moscow has repeatedly accused NATO allies of gathering intelligence to assist Ukrainian strikes on Russian forces, while the latter has been discounted as "disinformation." It's not out of the realm of possibility, of course.Another drone that is larger than the Madura, called Sea Baby, was shown to a select group of media.The latest Sea Baby model is capable of carrying 850 kilograms (1,900 pounds) of explosives, hits a top speed of 90 kph (56 mph) and can cover a distance of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).Agile by design, these unmanned hunter killers, are being used to target Russian shipping and infrastructure in the Black Sea.As a result, it has helped Kyiv resume some grain exports abroad — a crucial piece of Ukraine's fragile economy.Last July, two Ukrainian maritime drones hit the Kerch Bridge, a key supply route linking Russia to Crimea, forcing its temporary closure. Unconfirmed reports said a Sea Baby drone was used in that strike.The following month, Ukrainian sea drones struck a Russian port and damaged a warship, officials said.And in early March of this year, a special operations unit destroyed the large patrol ship Sergey Kotov overnight. The ship, which Ukraine said was commissioned in 2021 and was hit near the Kerch Strait, reportedly can carry cruise missiles.Weaponry aboard Russian ships was not designed with drones in mind, so they have to rely on cannons that are better suited to duels with other ships, experts say — yet another advantage for the elusive drones.The latter are also capable of tight turns at speed, something Russian warships cannot do.Ukrainian know-how and ingenuity are behind the development of the new generation of sea drones.They are locally designed and tested, but some components are sourced abroad. The builder of the boats wishes to remain anonymous.United24, a government crowdfunding organization that elicits donations from companies and individuals worldwide, collects the funding.Though the sea drones aren’t cheap — each Magura, for example, comes in at around US$250,000 and the new model Sea Baby costs around US$221,000 — they can damage or sink a ship worth hundreds of millions of dollars.Having lost almost its entire naval fleet following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine has nevertheless managed to resist Russia's attempts to dominate in the Black Sea.Under relentless attacks, Moscow was forced to withdraw the core of its fleet from Crimea and move them further east, to Novorossiysk. And even there, Russian ships remain within reach of Ukrainian drones.Moscow’s oil and gas infrastructure has also come under threat, with a drone attack on a Russian oil terminal about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of St. Petersburg.Russians “started waking up at night during explosions,” Ukraine’s defence intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told CNN in late January. “They see the real picture of war.”Being outgunned and outnumbered in the war against its bigger neighbour, Ukraine’s daring sea drone attacks have lifted morale considerably and given Vlad Putin the punch in the face he so deserves.— with files from Associated Press
