Downward angle icons Icons in the shape of a downward angle. Magura V5 maritime drone, Neptune anti-ship missile, SeaBaby drone. Getty/Wikicommons Ukraine has used several innovative naval technologies to attack Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. The Magura V5 maritime drone, Neptune missiles, and SeaBaby naval drones have proven essential to Ukrainian warfare efforts. Here we take a closer look at each innovation.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has inflicted heavy damage on the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Ukraine does not have a traditional navy and seemed destined to struggle at sea if war broke out.
But a range of innovative naval technologies and unconventional tactics have enabled Ukraine to continue its relentless barrage of attacks against Russian warships.
The tactic has been so successful that the UK Ministry of Defence announced in March that the Black Sea Fleet had been “functionally disabled”, and the fleet’s ships were forced to withdraw from Crimea to escape further Ukrainian attacks.
“The size of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has proven no match for Ukraine’s maritime innovations,” the Defense Ministry said. Said on sunday.
The ministry noted that three inventions played a particularly important role in the victory over Ukraine’s fleet: the Magura V5 maritime drone, the Neptune anti-ship missile and the SeaBaby naval drone.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these innovations.
Magura V5 Maritime Drone
Magura V5 drone. REUTERS/Valentin Ogilenko
The Magura V5 is a versatile unmanned surface vessel.
The Ukrainian-made drone is about 5.5 meters (about 18 feet) long and can carry a payload of 320 kilograms (about 705 pounds), according to naval analyst H.I. Sutton.
Sutton says on his website that the V5 can reach a top speed of about 42 knots (about 48 mph) and has a range of about 450 nautical miles.
The drone was reportedly involved in a number of significant incidents during the war.
Ukrainian intelligence said Magura V5 drones were used in attacks on the Russian corvette Ivanovets, the patrol ship Sergey Kotov, and the landing craft Caesar Kunikov.
An unspecified number of Magura V5 naval drones have also been modified to carry R-73 short-range air-to-air missiles, the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Service said.
This version of the drone was first spotted in May and has already been used in combat operations in the Black Sea, the Navy announced last month.
Neptune anti-ship missile
Testing of the Neptune missile. Ukrainian General Staff
The R-360 Neptune is a subsonic cruise missile developed in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
The missile has a range of approximately 200 miles and weighs approximately 2,000 pounds.
Ukraine uses these anti-ship missiles to attack high-value targets and as an alternative to ATACMS, as the Biden administration has limited the extent to which Ukraine can use the U.S.-made systems.
Neptune missiles were used to sink the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva, and improved missiles may have also been used to attack Russian air defense systems, including S-400s deployed in Crimea.
Ukraine is attempting to modify its Neptune missiles to be able to attack such land targets.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, “Ukraine first deployed Neptune anti-ship missiles against Russian naval targets in April 2022.”
The think tank noted that as the war continued, Ukraine “needed to further develop and improve” the Neptune missiles “to launch full-scale attacks on Russian territory.”
Seababy drone
Seababy surface drone. Screenshot from the Ukrainian Security Service Telegram.
The domestically produced SeaBaby is a type of Ukrainian unmanned surface vehicle.
Sutton said the drone is slightly longer than the Magura V5, measuring 6 meters (about 20 feet) in length, and can reach a top speed of 49 knots (about 56 miles per hour).
Sutton said the vessel can travel up to 540 nautical miles and has a payload capacity of 850 kilograms (about 1,870 pounds).
Earlier this month, Ukrainian media reported that Artyom Detiarenko, a spokesman for the Security Service of Ukraine, said the Sea Baby had undergone a major upgrade.
“Specifically speaking about the refinement of the Sea Baby drone that attacked the bridge in Crimea last year, today its characteristics are completely different and it is much more powerful,” he said.
“For example, a year ago our drones could carry about 800 kilograms of explosives to a distance of about 800 kilometers, today they can carry more than 1,000 kilometers, even more than 1,000 kilometers. So today the SBU can attack enemy ships almost anywhere in the Black Sea,” he added.
Ukraine says Seababy drones have been responsible for a number of large-scale attacks on Russian ships, including the patrol vessel Pavel Derzhavin in October and the Olenegorsky Gornyak in August.
Sea-Babies are also said to have destroyed the Kerch Bridge last year, a key link between Crimea and mainland Russia and is a prized possession of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Despite Ukraine’s success, one expert previously told Business Insider that Russia still has an edge in the naval arena.
Sebastian Bruns, a senior research fellow at the Kiel University Center for Maritime Strategy and Security, said that while Ukrainian operations in the Black Sea region have proven “strong enough to sink or disable more than half of the high-value ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” Russia “remains dominant, endangering ports and shipping lanes through targeted missile attacks and laying mines.”
“Ukraine cannot win a war at sea, but it can certainly lose it there,” he added.
