Russian forces have encountered a new enemy in the Black Sea: Ukraine’s arsenal of naval kamikaze drones. The latest of Ukraine’s maritime conquests was the Russian Mangust-class patrol boat, which it destroyed off the coast of occupied Crimea with a MAGURA naval drone. Ukraine shifted its focus to naval drones after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Besides using the Sea Baby unscrewed surface vessel (USV) in the Black Sea, Ukraine's Security Service now also deploys another naval drone, the Mamai. Source: a television programme by 1+1 on the air of the national 24/7 newscast; press service of Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) to Ukrainska Pravda A Mamai USV.
Russia’s defense industry is scrambling to develop naval drones in a lagging effort to bridge the technological gap with Ukraine, the UK’s Defense Ministry reported on Dec. 1.
Russia has recently installed barriers at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay in Crimea, likely as a precaution against Ukrainian naval drones, as seen in a satellite image shared by Brady Efric, an Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) analyst, on X, formerly known as Twitter.