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Toloka TLK-150 underwater drone.

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https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/08/10/drones-of-high-seas-en

Drones of the high seas Ukrainian sea drones: what are they and how can they change the course of the war? 9:01 PM, 10 August 2023Ilya Volzhsky, correspondent for Novaya Gazeta Europe

Last week, two Russian vessels, the Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship and the Sig tanker, were attacked by Ukraine’s above-water remotely piloted vehicles. The attack inflicted significant damage to both ships and caused them to become dead in the water. Another above-water drone hit the Crimean Bridge in the early hours of 17 July. Novaya-Europe has looked into whether this new weapon is capable of shifting the power balance in this war and leading to Kyiv’s victory in the Black Sea.

A new weapon

Most of Ukraine’s attacks that involve above-water drones result in success, Oleksandr Musiyenko, the head of the Centre for Military Legal Studies, has told Novaya-Europe. Dozens of Russian ships are “locked in their bays, afraid to set sail” as the Russian fleet remains vulnerable to this new type of weapon, despite all the security measures, he adds.

The attack on the Crimean Bridge has shown that “not just ships, but also fixed facilities” are guardless before the unmanned vehicles, Musiyenko says.

He believes that the above-water drones can go as fast as 80 km/h and remain almost unnoticed. They are also capable of carrying hundreds of kg of explosives in their warhead.

As yet, two types of sea drones are being designed in Ukraine: above-water and underwater ones, Ukrainian military expert Roman Svitan has told Novaya-Europe. There are already around ten different above-water models, he says. The two recent attacks on the Russian ships involved “devices that were designed by a joint effort of the State Security Service and the Ukrainian Navy”. Those are unmanned boats, radio- or satellite-controlled, that can move at the speed of 80 km/h. The drone has protection from being shut down by electronic warfare support and has a reach of up to 800 km.

OSINT analyst H-I Sutton refers to the maritime drones as uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), calling them “small, purposeful, and expendable”. “As ingenious and neatly engineered as they are, they are the sort of thing which can be built in garages if necessary. Ukrainian sources put the unit price at $250,000,” Sutton reveals.

WHAT ARE THE TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF UKRAINIAN DRONES? H-I Sutton provides the following specifications for the Ukrainian drones:

Length: 5.5 metres

Full weight: up to 1,000 kg

Range: up to 430 NM (800 km)

Autonomy: up to 60 hours

Combat load: up to 200 kg

Max speed: 43 knots (80 km/h)

Navigation methods: automatic GNSS, inertial, visual

TLK Toloka. Photo: Twitter

Ukraine has also designed a series of underwater drones which Roman Svitan refers to as navigable torpedoes called TLK Toloka. Its biggest prototypes can carry up to 500 kg of explosives and attack both regular ships and submarines.

The Naval News projects provides a description for the uncrewed underwater vehicles, or UUVs:

“The TLK-150 is quite a small drone, being only 2.5 metres long. Unusually it has twin thrusters mounted on small wing-like stabilisers and a large keel. Combined with a separate rudder and forward mounted dive planes this should provide excellent agility.”

Underwater unmanned vehicles are a “very promising” weapon, but they are rather difficult to develop, David Sharp, an Israeli military expert, reveals. “It is very hard to control these devices as water makes communications very difficult. We don’t know how close Ukraine is to actually creating that sort of a weapon,” Sharp says.

Underwater unmanned vehicles. Photo: Naval News Underwater unmanned vehicles. Photo: Naval News Control over the sea

Oleksandr Musiyenko says Ukraine attacks Russia’s ships with drones so as to damage the engine rooms, props, and other vital parts of the vessels. The expert believes that Kyiv currently dictates the terms of naval warfare to Russia.

It is unknown how many water drones Ukraine has at the moment. Roman Svitan is certain that after mass production of various Ukrainian drones is ensured, the country will be able to completely control naval traffic both in the Black Sea and in the Sea of Azov by moving its guided devices back and forth through the Kerch Strait.

Both Russian Navy and civilian Russian ships may be under attack as the latter may be considered legitimate targets during the time of war. Svitan also makes a point that the attacked Sig tanker is on the sanctions list for delivering fuel to Russia’s military in Syria.

On Ukraine’s list of priority targets, the port of Novorossiysk ranks on par with the Sevastopol homeport of Russia’s Navy. But soon the threat will expand to other Russian ports, such as Anapa, Sochi, and Taman.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry has informed international seafaring boards that the Black Sea is a combat zone, which makes it unsafe for maritime traffic, Svitan says. From now on, captains of ships make decisions whether to enter certain havens, bearing the responsibility for the lives of their crews and their cargo.

Ferry passage

Roman Svitan assumes that the water drones may cut the connection between Crimea and Russia with another attack on the Crimean Bridge or the ferry line. The ferry is also a legitimate target for the drones, Svitan says, as it is used to “deliver military cargo to Crimea”.

“Crimea will be cut off in the north by the Ukrainian military that will break off its land connection with Russia, and by water and air drones, as well as missiles, in the east,” Svitan believes.

The view of the ferry passage to Crimea from a freight train station. Photo: Yandex Maps The view of the ferry passage to Crimea from a freight train station. Photo: Yandex Maps Had there been no grain deal, Ukraine’s drones could have been “hunting down Russia’s ships” for over a year already, Svitan says, adding that in that case, “there would have been no Russian vessels in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov at all”.

“The entire [Russian] Black Sea Fleet would be where the Moskva cruiser is,” Svitan surmises.

References

Keywords

«Mystic weakness», «[[]]», «Budapest memorandum», «Putin world war», «Russia-Ukraine war», «Toloka», «Transfer of hostilities to aggressor territory»,

«Перенос боевых действий на территорию страны агрессора», «Спецоперация»,