By Olha Chepil | 2025-03-18

KYIV -- Under the pressure of war, Ukraine's maritime drones have transitioned from conventional explosive-laden kamikazes to reusable multipurpose devices.

It is the first country to implement the concept of maritime combat drones, and its success so far is evident, observers say.

On the night of October 31, 2022, Ukraine launched its first remote attack on the Crimean city Sevastopol, without involving a single pilot.

Since then, maritime drones have evolved greatly, becoming a nightmare not only to Russian ships in the Black Sea but also to Russian helicopters there.

"We can now perform a whole range of tasks that were previously impossible," said Captain 1st Rank (ret.) Volodymyr Zablotsky, a Kyiv-based naval analyst and Defense Express correspondent.

During three years of naval warfare, the Ukrainians have used drones equipped with sea mines, machine gun mounts, unguided missiles and surface-to-air missiles. They have even used maritime drones that carry first-person-view drones.

"Imagine a maritime drone carrying aerial drones! This is a world first -- nothing like this has ever happened anywhere. It's a new platform with a hangar for carrying four of these drones that can perform various wide-ranging tasks," Zablotsky told Kontur.

Last December, it was these drones that struck Russian-seized gas platforms in the Black Sea, even though Russia had installed systems there to watch for the drones.

"The demands of war at sea, including technological progress, are creating fundamentally new capabilities that we must deploy as quickly as possible, and that is what we are doing," said Zablotsky.

Historic sea-to-air attack

The modified Ukrainian maritime drones threaten the Russians not only on land and sea but also in the air.

On the last day of 2024, during a battle in the Black Sea near Cape Tarkhankut on the western coast of occupied Crimea, a missile-armed maritime drone hit an aerial target for the first time -- a Russian helicopter.

"This was a historic event because no one in the world had shot down helicopters with maritime drones before," Alexander Kovalenko, an Odesa-based correspondent with InfoResist, told Kontur.

"Ukraine is the first country not only to install a missile on a maritime drone but also to shoot down an aerial target with it, confirming the method's effectiveness in practice."

Ukrainian military intelligence described this victory: On December 31, a Magura V5 unmanned maritime drone shot down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter with an R-73 Sea Dragon missile, a Soviet air-to-air missile modified in Ukraine.

The upgraded R-73 missile, with a warhead weighing about 8kg and a range of up to 40km, had a new guidance system capable of operating over a wider angle than before, say analysts.

"The missile had to be modified for sea conditions so that it could withstand salt water," Ivan Kirichevsky, a military analyst with Defense Express, told Kontur.

Hitting the target

Ukraine first attempted to integrate the R-73 missile into its maritime drones were in the fall of 2024, but those efforts failed, according to those familiar with the situation.

Ukrainian engineers likely then redesigned the R-73's guidance system, observers say. The result is the new Sea Dragon variant of the missile.

"This missile is guided not by onboard radar but by an infrared head," said Kirichevsky. "It is fired in the direction the aerial target is flying. Then the R-73 is supposed to follow the thermal trail."

Just two days after the December 31 attack, another Magura V5 destroyed a second Russian helicopter and damaged a third.

The commander of Ukrainian military intelligence's Group 13, who led the operation near Cape Chersonesus on the Crimean Peninsula, revealed details of the air and sea operation in a January 13 interview with TSN Week, a program broadcast by the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1.

"In this operation, we did not hide from [Russian] aviation as usual, but rather we sought out an encounter with the enemy. A helicopter is a fast target," said the Group 13 commander.

"Once it comes into view, you have only a few minutes to get into a good position for a launch. We calculated everything, and the missile hit the target on the first launch."

Putting Russia 'on guard'

The development of such systems on maritime drones gives Ukraine an edge in the war, because manned helicopters and planes cost much more than unmanned boats do, say observers.

Accordingly, Russia must be on guard.

"The integration of these systems will continue. That is, the Russian helicopter force will be at risk in 2025 as well," said Kovalenko. "If our maritime missions continue, then of course there will be more downed Russian helicopters and not only helicopters."

Ukraine may also strike the Kerch Bridge for a third time, Ukrainian navy commander Oleksiy Neizhpapa told The Guardian in March. The previous two strikes damaged the road and railroad on the bridge.

Neizhpapa expressed optimism that Kyiv would be able to destroy the bridge, which Russia built to connect its territory with Crimea.

"I am sure that Ukraine can continue the attacks. And our [Vice] Adm. Neizhpapa stated that we will destroy the enemy at sea, anywhere, including the Crimean bridge," said Zablotsky.

"Accordingly, maritime drones will be protected by means such as antiaircraft missiles."

Ukraine has now begun using torpedo-armed drones and is developing other types of maritime drones, in particular Toloka underwater drones.

The United Kingdom is developing maritime drones for Ukraine, with technical specifications that include the ability to carry multiple missiles with an 80kg high-explosive fragmentation warhead and a range of 30-100 km.

"The Russians always have to be on guard because the navy is not their strong point," said Kirichevsky. "Instead, it's just a question of where they need to be on guard."

"Whether it's the sea, or threats in the air, or mines, which is exactly what they have problems with at sea."