Does the Russian Navy need unmanned missile carriers and torpedo bombers?

A series of attacks on ships of the Black Sea Fleet by Ukrainian naval drones has put on the agenda the question of how to defend against them and whether similar unmanned boats are needed in the arsenal of the Russian Navy. Sea-based BPA - is it pampering or the future of the "wunderwaffe"?

Marine Drone Fleet

Recall that the Armed Forces of Ukraine began to use unmanned sea drones last year, attacking the main base of the Russian Navy in Sevastopol. Then, rather unexpectedly, video cameras recorded a fire-ship attack on the bridge in Zatoka, which the Kiev regime attributed to Russia. After a short lull, Ukrainian naval UAVs began to pursue small reconnaissance ships of the Russian Navy located in Turkish economic zone. Fortunately, both "Ivan Khurs" and "Priazovye" were able to get rid of them, but the trend, as they say, is alarming.



The fact that our SRKs were attacked near the Bosporus indicates either the launch of drones from the sides of civilian ships participating in the grain deal, or the very high range of unmanned boats led to the target by American strategic reconnaissance UAVs. The latter means that such firewalls pose a threat to the entire Black Sea area. In the fall of 2022, President Zelensky announced the start of a fundraiser to create the world's first fleet of marine drones:


Sounds alarming. On January 29, 2017, the Saudi Arabian Navy frigate Al Madinah of the French project F2000 was attacked by the Houthis using a remote-controlled fireship. The unmanned boat filled with explosives successfully reached the target and hit it on board, exploding. You can see how it looked from the deck of the ship on the video.


Undoubtedly, the shooters of "Ivan Khurs" and "Priazovye" are real Heroes who managed to save both of our SRKs. But does this mean that unmanned firefighters have become a kind of "wunderwaffe"?

No, to say that would be an exaggeration. Maritime kamikaze UAVs are a threat to defenseless civilian ships, as well as to coastal infrastructure. A real warship will easily beat them off. Problems can arise for almost unarmed SRKs in the event of an attack by a large “wolf pack” of fireships, and even at night, when it is difficult to shoot by eye. I really hope that the command of the Black Sea Fleet is more won't send reconnaissance ships without escort.

In general, maritime drones as firewalls are rather a weapon not of war, but of terror. The only way the Russian Navy could really use them is to destroy the pillars of the Ukrainian bridges across the Dnieper, but such actions should have been taken a long time ago in a comprehensive and serious manner. Does this mean that the Russian fleet does not need unmanned boats?

Almost a wunderwaffe

In fact, marine UAVs can be extremely useful if they are mass-produced and inexpensive and applied to the case.

first direction is the use of unmanned boats as patrol boats. An Israeli remote-controlled boat Protector USV can be used as an example to follow. It is based on a fiberglass landing craft, has a speed of 40 knots, a carrying capacity of 1 ton and is equipped with a wide range of sensors and sensors that allow it to detect, identify and track both coastal and offshore objects. The Protector USV is capable of delivering naval special forces to the required location, participating in rescue missions and guarding large ships. For self-defense, the unmanned boat is armed with a 7,62 mm machine gun. Probably a similar remote-controlled technique would find its application both in the Russian Navy and in the Border Guard Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation.

Second direction, even more important, involves the creation of an unmanned mine defense boat for the needs of the navy. The mine threat from the countries of the NATO bloc, and now Ukraine is one of the most serious, especially in the face of a clear shortage of modern minesweepers in our country. As a platform for BEC mine defense, a promising unmanned boat "Typhoon", presented in 2015 by PKF Mnev and K LLC, is supposed. There is still work to be done on it, but the project itself is extremely promising.

The third the direction that requires discussion and comprehensive study is the idea of ​​creating an attack marine drone based on a small missile and / or torpedo boat. To understand the prospects for its use, let's turn to the family of Iranian boats Zolfaghar, based on a North Korean export license.

The performance characteristics of Iranian missile boats are as follows: a displacement of 13,7 tons, a boat hull length of 16 meters, a speed of about 52 knots. Torpedo boats, respectively, have a displacement of 29 tons, a hull length of 21 meters, and a speed of about 52 knots. The crew both there and there are only three people. The IPS-18 torpedo boats differ from the IPS-16 missile boats by having a detachable 12,7mm machine gun in the bow. Their hulls are built taking into account the requirements of low radar visibility. The armament of the missile boats is represented by two anti-ship Nasr-1, presumably a copy of the Chinese C-704 short-range anti-ship missiles.

Both North Korea and Iran, for a number of reasons, have relied on a small “mosquito fleet”, which should attack an enemy that is superior in striking power with a “wolf pack”. But what if we take this idea to a more technologically advanced level?

What if you take these or similar high-speed missile and torpedo boats and make them unmanned? Imagine how much more effective Ukrainian fire ships, which need to literally stick into it to hit a target, would be a remotely controlled high-speed and actively maneuvering torpedo boat that fires a couple of modern torpedoes? In the unmanned version, it is quite possible to afford to exchange several inexpensive boats for some kind of NATO frigate.

And how much higher will the efficiency be if the Russian Navy sends a “wolf pack” of dozens of unmanned missile boats each carrying a pair of modern anti-ship missiles to attack enemy ships? This would make it possible to strike at the enemy fleet remotely, without risking a direct collision with our ships. In closed water areas such as the Baltic, Black or Mediterranean Seas, such naval drones equipped with anti-ship missiles can become a truly formidable weapon.