However, Kyiv found tactics that allowed it to become a real threat to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. March. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the Black Sea Fleet had become “functionally inactive” and its remaining ships had been forced to withdraw from the waters off the Crimean peninsula.
“It turned out that the size of the Russian Black Sea Fleet does not match Ukraine’s maritime innovations,” the Ministry of Defense said earlier.
Innovative maritime technologies and unconventional strategies have not only served to reduce the number of Russian ships near Crimea, but have also allowed Ukraine to continue its seaborne grain trade, from which Russia withdrew last summer.
News site Business Insider singled out three inventions that played a particularly important role in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian navy: the Magura V5 naval drone, the Neptune anti-ship missile, and the Sea Baby naval drone.
Magura V5 Marine Drone
The Magura V5 is a multi-purpose underwater drone.
Military analyst HISutton noted that the Ukrainian-made drone is about five and a half meters long and can carry a 320 kg payload.
It can reach a top speed of around 42 knots (77.7 km/h) and has a range of around 450 nautical miles (833.4 km), HISutton has reviewed the technology on his website.
Social Media Photo/Ukraine Magura V5 Marine Drone
This drone has already been successfully used in several operations against the Russian Navy.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the Magura V5 drones were used to attack the Russian corvette Ivanovec, the patrol ship Sergey Kotov and the amphibious assault ship Cesar Kunikov.
An unspecified number of Magura V5 maritime drones have also been modified to carry R-73 short-range air-to-air missiles, Ukrainian Defense Intelligence added.
Stopkadras/Ukrainian intelligence struck a Russian ship carrying missiles in Crimea
Neptune anti-ship missile
The subsonic cruise missile R-360 “Neptun” was developed in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
The missile has a range of about 321 km and weighs just over 900 kg.
These missiles have been used by Ukrainian forces to strike high-value targets and as an alternative to ATACMS since the administration of US President Joe Biden has restricted where Ukraine can use US-made missiles.
It was the Neptune missile that was used to sink the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, Moskva. A modified version of this missile could also be used to strike Russian air defenses, including the S-400 systems deployed in Crimea.
Ukraine has also tried to modify the missile to attack such land targets.
AP/Scanpix/Ukraine Neptune anti-ship missile
Earlier, analysts at the Institute of Military Research (ISW) noted that “Ukraine first debuted Neptune anti-ship missiles, striking Russian targets in the seas as early as April 2022.”
Experts noted that Ukraine “had to continue to improve and modify” the Neptune missiles as the war continued and changed, and it was important for Kyiv to continue to “carry out deep strikes against Russian territory.”
Sea Baby drone
Locally Ukrainian-made Sea Baby is another Ukrainian unmanned marine drone.
It is slightly longer than the Magura V5 at six meters long and can reach a top speed of 49 knots (about 90 km/h).
Sea Baby can travel up to 540 nautical miles (approximately 1,000 km) and carry a payload of 850 kg.
Earlier this month, the spokesman for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Artyom Dehtiarenko said that the Sea Baby had been significantly improved.
VIDEO: Ukrainian intelligence showed how it destroyed the Russian warship “Sergey Kotov”
“If we talk specifically about the modernization of the Sea Baby drones that hit the Crimean bridge last year, today they have completely different characteristics, they have become much more powerful,” he emphasized.
“For example, a year ago our drone could carry about 800 kg of explosives over a distance of about 800 km, and today it can carry more than 1,000 kg and more than 1,000 km. So today SBU can attack enemy ships practically anywhere in the Black Sea”, added A. Dehtiarenko.
Ukraine has said Sea Baby drones have been involved in several major strikes against Russian ships, including in October. the blow to the patrol ship “Pavel Deržavin” and the attack on the ship “Olenegorskij Gorniak” in August.
The “Sea Baby” drone is also credited with one of the greatest merits: last year, with its help, the Kerch Bridge, which is the favorite of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was damaged, connecting Crimea with the Russian mainland.
Despite Ukraine’s success, an expert previously told Business Insider that Russia still has some advantages in the maritime arena.
Screenshot /The new generation of Sea Baby drones is noticeably different from the previous ones.
Sebastian Bruns, a senior researcher at the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security at the University of Kiel, pointed out that while Ukraine’s operations in the Black Sea region have proven to be “powerful enough to sink or disable more than half of the high-value units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” Russia is “still has the advantage of keeping ports and shipping lanes at risk from targeted missile strikes and mines.”
“Ukraine will not win the war in the maritime domain alone, but it can certainly lose it,” he added.
Source: www.15min.lt
