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Ukraine just showed off new modifications to its fleet of naval drones.
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They appear to be equipped with machine guns and have gained the ability to carry small flying drones.
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It marks Ukraine’s latest innovation in these systems, which have hit Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
It appears that Ukraine is deploying modified naval drones in the Black Sea and sending its unmanned boats into battle against Russian helicopters and patrol boats and battling strategic gas platforms.
The naval drones used in these recent battles are said to be equipped with new weapons and attack capabilities, highlighting Ukraine’s innovation in this area.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian Navy shared images of the use of naval drones to carry out an operation against Moscow-owned oil platforms off the coast of the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. Kiev said the mission focused on surveillance systems at the facility.
Ukraine typically loads its naval drones with explosives and drives them directly into targets; they explode on impact. Footage of the oil platform operation showed the drones being used in this capacity, but the drone boats also served as a launch pad for smaller first-person view (FPV) drones.
This strategy, depicted in the video, essentially converted the Navy’s systems into drone motherships. At one point, the FPV drones can even be seen chasing several individuals on the oil platform. It is unclear exactly when this operation took place.
A few days later, on Monday, Ukraine’s security service shared images of its “Sea Baby” naval drones engaging in a firefight with Russian helicopters, planes and patrol boats trying to intercept them in Kerch Bay off the coast of Crimea. .
The SBU said its newly modified Sea Baby drones were equipped with large-caliber machine guns and automatic target acquisition. “The Russian pilots considered themselves hunters and expected an easy hunt, but they became the prey, as the naval drones opened fire in return,” the report said.
Ukraine said the drones hit a ship carrying military equipment during the operation, which took place on Thursday evening.
Business Insider could not immediately verify the reported details of the footage of the recent drone attacks on the Navy.
The two recent engagements appear to be the first public demonstration of their new capabilities. However, this is not the first time that Ukraine has innovated with its naval drones; Kiev also equipped them with rocket and missile launchers earlier this year.
Ukraine uses several variants of its domestically produced naval drones, including the Sea Baby platforms used by the SBU last week. These systems have enabled Kiev, which lacks a traditional navy, to wage an asymmetric war campaign against Russia and its Black Sea Fleet.
This campaign has been a major success for Ukraine, which has sunk, destroyed or damaged at least 32 medium and large Russian naval vessels since the start of the war. Kiev has also driven the Black Sea Fleet from its old headquarters in Crimea, forcing it to move across the waterway to the port of Novorossiysk in southwestern Russia.
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