Is It A New Ukrainian Attack Drone?

Ukraine may be using a new type of drone boat supplied by the U.S. to attack Russian warships in the Black Sea.

Russian forces found a drone boat washed up on a beach close to their naval base at Sevastopol in the Crimea, according to submarine and covert vessel expert HI Sutton writing in Naval News. Rather than examining the uncrewed surface vessel or USV, the Russians towed it out to sea and blew it up. This was probably wise. Sutton believes that the boat was likely packed with explosives and on a mission to destroy Russian warships.

The boat, which looks to be about the size of a kayak, floats low in the water, making it difficult to swap. Sutton identifies a camera, infra-red sensors, communications antenna and bow-mounted sensors which might detect the presence of a target close enough to trigger its payload. It has a waterjet and might achieve considerable speed. The location, over 150 miles from Ukrainian-controlled territory, indicates long range.

While the exact type of vessel has not yet been identified, the USV certainly has a familiar look to it, and immediately suggests the vessels supplied by the U.S. back in April.

Back then, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters that an $800 million security assistance package included an unspecified number of “unmanned coastal defense vessels” among the items being provided to the Ukrainians.

“It’s an unmanned surface vessel (USV) that can be used for a variety of purposes in coastal defense. I think I’ll just leave it at that,” Kirby told reporters, adding that it was coming from existing Navy stocks. “I’m not gonna promise you a fact sheet [but] I can promise you the damn thing works.”

He declines to confirm whether the USVs would be armed.

“They’re designed to help Ukraine with its coastal defense needs… I’m not going to get into the specific capabilities,” Kirby said.

A senior defense official, speaking anonymously, noted that some Ukrainian personnel had already been trained on the USVs.

Fedscoop quoted naval expert Brent Sadler as identifying the Mantas T-12, built by MARTAC, as a likely candidate, stating that Ukrainians had recently trained at a Navy base in Little Creek, Virginia.

MARTAC produce a range of vessels in the Mantas series, with “open architecture and modular design allowing for rapid adaptation and integration of sensors, advance communications and improved energy payload.”

The vessel seen on social media does not look like a T-12, but might be something else from the same stable. Mantas craft can also float low in the water with what is described as “stealth mode,” allowing the USV to operate with the deck itself below the water line. And they could carry out a number of different roles, as well as kamikaze missions.

“USVs definitely could be used for intelligence and reconnaissance to support drone and missile strikes on the Russian Navy,” said Zachary Kallenborn, Policy Fellow at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

“Although the USVs could be equipped with explosives and used to carry out kamikaze attacks, I would wonder about the opportunity cost.”

Kallenborn suggests it would make more sense to convert commercial vessels for the attack role and keep the military ones for the stealth spy role. The Houthi rebels in Yemen have already adapted speedboats as remote-controlled kamikazes for attacks on oil tankers and other vessels.

Ukraine’s Neptune anti-ship missiles have proved highly effective, but they need a spotter to locate a target – Bayraktar TB2s were apparently used for this role when the Russian flagship Moskva was sunk. USVs might be a less risky, stealthy alternative, being able to lurk for long periods waiting for a target to appear.

We may never know the identify of the mystery USV – one that washed up in Scotland in 2020 was never claimed, although it was identified as an American-made Wave Glider.

However, Russian warships may have to be more cautious when navigating the Black Sea. Even a craft as small as the one found washed up in Crimea can carry an explosive shaped charge big enough to blow a hole in one and add to the tally of Russian losses.