Ukraine’s Robot Aircraft Carriers Are Raiding Russian Coastal Defenses

Several navies are developing warships specifically for launching drones. The Ukrainian navy—ironically, a fleet without any large ships—got there first, with an unmanned boat that launches explosive first-person-view drones for strikes on coastal targets.

The robotic drone carriers, jointly operated by the navy and the Security Service of Ukraine, have been in service since last year. But they recently pulled off their most ambitious strike—motoring along the coast of Russian-occupied southern Ukraine on or before Friday and launching FPV drones to blow up a pair of Russian air-defense vehicles: an Osa and a Strela.

The unmanned surface vehicles and the quadcopter drones they launched recorded each other carrying out the coastal raid “deep in the enemy’s rear,” according to the Sternenko Fund, which collects donations to buy drones for the Ukrainian military. “This wonderful result was made possible thanks to the combat work of the navy in cooperation with the SBU, innovative solutions from Ukrainian engineers and your donations,” the fund stated.

The addition of FPV drones, carried four apiece in special compartments aboard Ukrainian USVs, expanded the range of targets the robotic boats—18-foot Sea Babies and Magura V5s—can strike.

Robotic naval war

Early in Russia’s three-year wider war on Ukraine, the USVs exclusively targeted Russian warships—and only on one-way sorties. Their hulls packed with explosives, the boats would slip into Russian-controlled ports and ram Russian vessels. In separate raids on Crimean anchorages in February, May and June 2024, the USVs sank a corvette, a landing ship, a patrol boat and a tugboat.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet deployed fighter jets, helicopters and patrol boats to intercept the drone boats before they could strike, so last year the Ukrainian navy, security service and intelligence directorate armed some the USVs with surface-to-air missiles and remotely aimed machine guns.

The weapons helped swarms of USVs fight through Russian defenses. In December, a Magura V5 got into a gunfight with a Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopter—and shot down the Mi-8. It was the first aerial kill by an unmanned surface vehicle, and a harbinger of a new era in naval warfare. “Historic strike,” the intelligence directorate crowed as it released footage of the engagement.

The first time a USV launched an explosive FPV against a Russian target, also in December, was arguably even more historic. The FPV strike on an Russian-occupied oil platform marked the first Ukrainian drone boat raid in which the drone boat didn’t have to blow itself up to complete its mission.

In becoming drone carriers, the USVs are now reusable—just like Ukraine’s latest drone bombers are. That means a single unmanned boat might, with a little luck and skill on the part of its operators back on land, destroy more than one Russian target.

And with a lot of luck and skill, a single drone boat might destroy … a lot of Russian targets.