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Ukrainian naval drones are laying mines to damage Russian ships in the Black Sea, the WSJ reported.
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Four ships, including missile corvette Samum and patrol ship Pavel Derzhavin, were hit.
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Mine-laying using a naval drone is part of Ukraine’s unconventional war program.
Ukrainian unmanned surface ships are laying undersea mines that have already damaged several Russian warships in the Black Sea, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Brigadier General Ivan Lukashevich of Ukraine’s SBU Security Service described to the Journal the development of a specialized Sea Baby drone capable of laying Western-supplied bottom mines – small 400-pound mines that lie beneath the seabed.
According to Lukashevich, once in place, the mines can detect a ship’s sounds and electromagnetic signals and explode when one is nearby.
The newspaper reported that the mines have so far damaged four Russian warships, including the missile corvette Samum and the patrol ship Pavel Derzhavin.
While successful attacks on Russian ships using explosive-laden naval drones are well documented, the use of drones to lay mines has not received the same attention.
But after Russia strengthened its defenses in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, making explosive naval drone attacks much more difficult, mines came into play, the Journal reported.
After carefully mapping the routes used by both civilian and military ships last summer, Lukashevich’s team sent drones to lay mines, the newspaper said.
The Samum detonated one of the mines in September, the newspaper reported. At the time, intelligence sources informed Reuters and Ukrainian media that it had been hit by a Sea Baby drone.
A month later, the Pavel Derzhavin was damaged by an explosion, attributed to a Sea Baby by unnamed SBU sources.
Two days later, the ship left Sevastopol for repairs but was hit again, this time by one of Lukashevich’s mines, the Journal reported.
The tugboat sent to rescue the ship also struck a mine, according to the newspaper.
Lukashevich also told the Journal that Ukrainian drone operators are now being trained to work in small squadrons of 10 to 20 drones, which together could mimic the role of a warship.
Despite not having a conventional navy, Ukraine continues to punch above its weight in the Black Sea.
Ukraine claims to have damaged or destroyed at least a third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since the large-scale invasion began, a feat that has caused Russia to move much of its naval operations from its headquarters in Sevastopol to Novorossiysk.
Read the original article on Business Insider
