The naval drones that Ukraine has used to hammer Russia’s Black Sea Fleet are now targeting Russia in new waterways.
The 40th Coastal Defense Brigade of Ukraine’s 30th Marine Corps said last week that an uncrewed “Barrauda” drone was able to penetrate Russian positions, leave mines, and strike Russian targets, damaging a Russian logistical base and a boat equipped with a machine gun.
The strike comes as Ukraine fields more naval drones designed to hunt Russian targets in smaller bodies of water.
The brigade shared combat footage that appears to have been filmed by a camera on the drone. The uncrewed vessel can be seen navigating a wide body of water before moving into a much narrower, brown-water channel.
The newly released video shows a camouflaged boat at a base, and then aerial footage shows a large explosion followed by images of a destroyed building along the water.
The footage indicates the attack did not take place on the open ocean, as many of Ukraine’s naval drone strikes have, but in a confined inland waterway; Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi reported that the strike occurred on the Dnipro River.
Ukraine has used drones across land, air, and sea to gather information on the enemy and strike Russian targets, and its naval drones have helped to weaken Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine doesn’t have a proper navy with powerful ships, but the much cheaper drones have helped damage Russia’s expensive warships, even forcing Russia to relocate many vessels further away.
However, using drones in river environments or smaller bodies of water is a relatively new development for Ukraine, opening up a new range of targets for newly developed technology.
Dedicated drones for those areas, such as the Barracuda or others like the Ursula or Black Widow 2, are newer technology compared to systems like the Sea Baby or Magura drones for open ocean. Ukraine is constantly upgrading its naval drones and creating new ones.
The Barracuda drone was first showcased by the 40th Separate Coastal Defence Brigade in September.
The 40th Separate Coastal Defence Brigade showcased the Barracuda in September, saying the drone is designed to “perform tasks that humans cannot,” including evacuating people from coastal areas and delivering ammunition to dangerous areas.
It said a month earlier that the drone is modular, making it easy to swap in different types of weapons, from mines to grenade launchers. It also shared that it uses artificial intelligence, though details on that are limited.
A special unit with the same name designed and launched the Barracuda and is the only one in the Ukrainian military operating the drone right now.
In recent months, Ukraine has said the Barracuda has destroyed a Russian logistics vessel and its crew and used naval mines to block channels between islands.
Drones are being used more in this war than in any other conflict in history, with Ukraine heavily relying on them as it faces regular shortages of weapons, ammo, and manpower.
Drones give Ukraine a key advantage because they can be produced domestically and at a fraction of the cost of many traditional weapons, creating an asymmetric threat to expensive assets such as Black Sea Fleet warships or T-90 tanks on the battlefield. Ukraine’s defense minister said last week that the armed forces expect to receive nearly 3 million FPV drones by the end of the year, most of them made at home — though Russia is also rapidly developing and fielding similar technology.
Worried about the potential for a future conflict with Russia, much of the West is closely watching Ukraine’s tactics and new war tech. Naval drones are one of the innovations Ukraine has said it is willing to export to partner nations.
NATO allies and defense companies are working on the technology, particularly in the Baltic Sea, which is shared by a host of NATO members and Russia. The US military is also exploring the potential of these weapon systems.
US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, called the way that Ukraine was able to move Russia’s navy with drones an “arbiter of things in the future.” He said that “there seems to be a big role for unmanned maritime systems into the future.”
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