Ukraine's evolving naval drones strike Russian targets from afar

Ukrainian naval drones, which are a nightmare for Russian sailors, are evolving. Recently, an anti-aircraft variant designed to counter helicopters emerged, and now there is an artillery platform meant for attacking land-based targets. Here’s what the Ukrainians have come up with.

Naval drones like the Magura V5 were initially used to attack ships of the Black Sea Fleet, such as the landing ship Project 775 "Oleniegorski Górnik", the tanker SIG, or patrol ships "Vasily Bykov". In response, the Russians began patrolling the area with helicopters, to which the Ukrainians countered by mounting anti-aircraft missiles on the drones.

Now, images have appeared showing drones equipped with six launch tubes for 12 cm non-guided rockets and footage of such a drone attacking Russian positions. This configuration, depending on the rockets used, theoretically allows for attacking targets 20 km or 40 km away.

The concept is very intriguing since the latest BM-21 Grad system rockets from places like Poland or Serbia enable attacks on targets up to 40 km from the shoreline. Such shelling will undoubtedly cause greater chaos and destruction than a flying drone with a few kilograms of explosive payload.

For instance, a single Polish rocket M-21 "FENIKS" with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead weighing 18 kg generates up to 6,000 fragments with a lethal range of several dozen metres. It's worth noting that a naval drone carries six such rockets.

It only raises interest in how the Ukrainians have solved the dispersion issue, as a light naval platform is not very stable, significantly worsening the accuracy of such a salvo compared to the BM-21 Grad launcher. Footage taken by the Russians shows that the dispersion of the rockets launched by the Ukrainian drone is not small.

The Magura V5 naval drones structurally resemble a motorboat with a length of 5.5 metres and a width of 1.5 metres, powered by a jet drive, enabling them to reach speeds of up to 77 km/h.

These drones were typically equipped with a warhead weighing about 300 kg, although larger versions existed, and they had a range of up to 800 km. It can be assumed that the range of the rocket version is greater, as there is more room for additional fuel tanks.

Control is carried out using AR goggles, just like FPV drones, providing a first-person perspective. The connection between the command centre and the drone is maintained through encrypted communication provided by the Starlink terminal.