Unmanned carriers: Ukrainian drones reshape Black Sea battle
The Russian Black Sea Fleet was defeated in a clash with a country practically devoid of warships. The key to this success was essentially armed, remote-controlled Ukrainian water scooters, which continue to evolve. After missile drones, it's now the era of aircraft carriers.
On 5th January, the Ukrainians conducted an FPV drone attack on two Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft systems in the Kherson region, overseeing the airspace over the northern part of Crimea.
Interestingly, the attack was launched from what can be described as an unmanned aircraft carrier drone, operating from the Black Sea. This seems to be another project by Group 13 of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), following anti-aircraft drones and artillery drones. Such attacks from the rear are profoundly demoralising for the Russians and necessitate the deployment of additional forces, which could be needed elsewhere.
Unmanned Ukrainian aircraft carriers — the evolution of marine drones
The Ukrainians are making extensive efforts to massively utilise unmanned systems on the battlefield. Flying drones have become the norm, just like marine drones, which have forced the withdrawal of Russian ships from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
The Ukrainian unmanned aircraft carrier is most likely based on the Magura V5 project. They resemble a motorboat in appearance, approximately 5.5 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, powered by a jet propulsion system from a Sea-Doo scooter, enabling speeds up to 77 km/h.
This is complemented by an encrypted communication system, satellite navigation, a Starlink terminal, and an observation head equipped with a day and thermal camera mounted on a mast. The difference, however, is the substitution of a 300/600-kilogram warhead in favour of, for example, a superstructure serving as a landing platform for FPV drones or "Baba Yaga" type drones carrying smaller specimens and a mast with an antenna providing communication with the drones.
In the case of FPV drones themselves, the range can be about 10 kilometres or slightly more, but with the use of larger "Baba Yaga" drones as signal boosters and carriers for FPV drones (there are instances of such use), the operational range of the strike group can extend even several tens of kilometres.
It is worth noting, however, that the above scenario appears to be more about testing the concept rather than mass production. Nevertheless, if Ukraine builds a fleet of such aircraft carriers, they could significantly hinder Russia's operations on the Crimean coast.
