Ukrainian maritime drones — this is a serious source of evolution that occurred due to the need for protection after a full-scale Russian invasion. What are Ukrainian naval drones, what are their features and can they sink the entire Russian fleet — Taras Chmut, director of the Turn Around, Living Foundation, answered these questions.
— What we have now — it is actually the product of a full-scale invasion. Several initiatives that have already grown into companies, in parallel to some extent competing with each other, create several different products, which in essence are the same unmanned remote-controlled kamikaze boat.
Chmut noted that the Ukrainian side draws conclusions every time on how best to use sea drones.
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— Every time we draw conclusions on tactics, technical parts, discover some problems, and eliminate them. Relatively speaking, every month, every six months we evolve through this process. Those products that we had in September-October last year, and those products that we have in September of this year, — this is a serious source of evolution.
The director of the fund drew attention to the fact that the Russian occupiers are now afraid that they could be attacked at any moment, so they are trying to improve the layers of defense.
— After we struck several ships or at least tried to strike them in different parts of the Black Sea, they are afraid that somewhere such a boat might fly towards them or into them. Also, their bases now also have several echelons of defense, because several times we directly inflicted fire damage on the bases. And this was very unexpected for them.
He noted that such developments are not capable of replacing a full-fledged navy in their functional and practical characteristics.
— Fleet — this is not only about fire destruction tasks. Fleet — it is about the ability to transfer force from one point to another, and apply it there. Fleet — these are economics, geopolitics, diplomacy, trade and three dots, because it takes a long time to write. Such platforms are not capable of replacing a full-fledged fleet.
In his opinion, sea drones are not capable of completely sinking the Russian Black Sea Fleet, because they have their own limitations.
— It is important to understand that this is not an ideal and universal weapon. This is a weapon that has a lot of limitations. Let's just say that if your boat is at sea in standby mode, then it consumes some fuel, minimally, but it does. He can't be there for a month. This all affects the price and tactics of application. If you can only make a few items a month, then each of them is expensive for you, and you cannot throw them away.
At the same time, sea drones are quite easy to detect, so not all of them they reach the necessary military targets. These drones can be destroyed with machine guns or artillery weapons because they have low speed.
— The problem is that if it is discovered on a ship or boat, then the boat itself is destroyed using standard machine guns or artillery weapons due to the not very high speed. If it is detected by aviation, then the same thing happens. Helicopters — one of the biggest threats to such boats. When he is on the water and moving, he is clearly visible through the wake, — he noticed.
