May 4, 2024:
Ukraine recently revealed the Sea Baby-2024 USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicle), a major upgrade of the 2023 model Sea Baby. This new USV carries 859 kg of explosives and has a range of 1,000 kilometers. These new USVs are cheap, costing $216,000 each.
Ukraine used USVs for the first time in 2022 when one was used to attack ships in Crimea’s Sevastopol Bay. An optional weapon for the new Sea Baby USV is six launching tubes for RPV-16 thermobaric rockets. These rockets have a range of 600 meters. The warhead detonates when it hits a target creating a cloud 2,500 degree heat that can kill or injure personnel within 80 meters of the detonation. First used by Ukrainian ground troops, in one case an RPV-16 warhead hit the room of a single story building, detonated, and destroyed the entire building. At sea, if one of these warheads landed on the deck of a warship the damage to any nearby personnel or weapons would be catastrophic. A hit against the hull could sink the ship, or at least put it out of action because of a hole at the waterline. Thermobaric explosives don’t work underwater, only in the atmosphere.
Because of Ukrainian attacks since 2022 with USVs, UAVs, and missiles, the Russian Black Sea Fleet lost 14 ships with several others badly damaged and towed to more distant portions of the Black Sea, including the Sea of Azov extension in the northeast and the more distant naval base at Novorossiysk. The remaining ships of the Black Sea Fleet include six guided missile cruisers, one corvette, seven diesel attack submarines, seven landing ships and dozens of High-speed landing craft, sea-going minesweepers, anti-saboteur boats, missile boats and anti-submarine ships. These ships rarely leave their well-guarded ports, even for a few days, because of the Ukrainian USVs that might be waiting for them. Ukrainian USVs are low in the water and are difficult to detect during the day and impossible to see at night.
Ukraine has several USV models, including the original Sea Baby, Mother, Malyuk and MAGURA. Sea Baby and Mother were developed by the Ukrainian Navy with assistance from the SBU secret service organization. At the end of 2023 Ukraine revealed an updated Mother USV with a top speed of 100 kilometers an hour. Manufacture of these USVs is done in underground production facilities to avoid Russian missile and guided bomb attacks.
Malyuk was used in a mid-2023 Kerch Bridge attack, carrying 850 kg of explosives to inflict significant damage on the bridge. MAGURA carries 320 kg of explosives while Mamai carries 450 kg. These USVs are no longer used just for delivering explosives against a target, as they can also be used for reconnaissance when equipped with video cameras that broadcast what they see back to the USV operator. Some USVs have been armed with small rocket launchers. Malyuk has a range of over 700 kilometers, which means they are suitable for operations on the high seas. Endurance is about 60 hours, and top speed is over 70 kilometers an hour. MAGURA has similar characteristics. Mamai was used in the long range attack at the distant naval base at Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea eastern coast, which is a thousand kilometers from Crimea.
Ukraine has been developing subsurface UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vessels) and in early 2023 the first one, the Toloka2 TK-150 entered service. This UUV was 2.5 meters long and equipped with a sensor mast that remained above the surface for navigation and to identify targets. Toloka2 can also carry a small explosive warhead. More recently, Ukraine developed the larger Marichka UUV that is 6 meters long and one meter in diameter. Ukraine seeks a Western manufacturer to build many more of these USVs and UUVs than Ukraine can.
Ukrainian USVs have been quite successful in attacking and sinking or disabling Russian navy ships. So far there have been twelve attacks which resulted in damage to 12 ships and the sinking of a cruiser, two small landing ships and one missile corvette. The longest range raids have been against targets in the Kerch Strait including the eighteen kilometer long Kerch Strait bridge, which has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian USVs. As of early 2024 the bridge is unusable and being restored. When repairs are finished, the Ukrainians will attack the bridge again. The Kerch Strait bridge is a vital supply line for Russian forces in the Crimean Peninsula. Sending supplies by sea is no longer practical because of the risk of attack by Ukrainian USVs. This leaves the Kerch Strait bridge and when that is out of commission, the only supply route is a road from Russia that is under observation by the Ukrainians, who can attack supply movements most of the time. This means Russian supply vehicles arrive in Crimea intermittently, leaving the Russian garrison weaker. Worse for the Russians, their Crimea garrison cannot hold out without fuel resupply.
Apparently the only effective protection from USV attacks is the installation of multiple 25mm or 30mm automatic cannon gun mounts that are automated and use advanced AI and sensors. The guns must be able to point downward towards waters close to the hull. This makes it possible for the autocannon to fire on UAVs that get very close to the ship. No one has installed such a system yet, but the Russian Navy is working on something like this.