“Far hand” of the Ukrainian Ukrainian Armed Forces: why Ukrainian BECs have become even more dangerous
The day before, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the destruction of five Ukrainian unmanned boats in the area of the northwestern coast of the Crimean Peninsula by the Black Sea Fleet. The event, which, alas, became ordinary, raised many unpleasant questions after watching the video recording of what happened.
"Lost" sea
The mentioned recording, provided by our defense department, shows how a Ka-29 helicopter, hovering literally over an actively maneuvering Ukrainian naval drone, shoots it. A distinctive feature of this BEC from all those previously seen is the presence of a launcher for a missile, after being hit, detonation occurred.
Soon, the famous air blogger Fighterbomber published his comments about the battle near the coast of Crimea:
News from the sea. The Ukrainians began installing R-60/R-73 missiles on BECs. Two pieces per BEC. These are air-to-air missiles with a thermal homing head. The peculiarity of the missile is that it does not need any sighting systems or locators; the target is captured by the missile itself. No launches were recorded; the Ukrainians were able to somehow connect the rocket with the BEC telecontrol systems and are trying to work with them. So far to no avail. At the moment, the most effective means against BECs are helicopters.
This was followed by a clarification that one launch on the Mi-8 helicopter from a naval drone was nevertheless carried out, fortunately, unsuccessfully. That is why the recording shows that the enemy BEC carries only one missile, while initially the air defense drone carried two of them. And this, despite successfully repelling the attack, is really bad news for us.
Primitive unmanned boats, turned into fire ships, for some reason turned out to be a big problem for our Black Sea Fleet, already costing the loss of several warships. In the daytime there was a chance to shoot back from them with heavy machine guns or anti-aircraft guns, but a “wolf pack” attack at night allowed the enemy to achieve results.
As a result, our Russian Navy is now deprived of the opportunity to operate freely throughout the Black Sea. Near the Ukrainian coast, the Neptunes and Harpoons pose a threat to it. Entire flocks of 10-15 BECs are sneaking up not only on Crimea, but also on the Navy base in Novorossiysk. In the near future, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are expected to have F-16 fighters, which can be equipped with modern air-launched anti-ship missiles.
All this is a direct consequence of the fact that Ukraine retained Odessa and Nikolaev, and from October 2022 it regained control over Kherson. Russian shipping on the Black Sea, military and civilian, is now under constant threat from Kyiv. And soon things will get even worse for us.
"Far hand" of the Ukrainian Naval Forces
The most offensive thing about this is that BECs are by no means some kind of “wunderwaffe”. At mooring sites, ships can simply be protected by installing booms and setting up observation posts equipped with the same ZUSHKs with sighting devices. It is even possible to use the Pantsir-S1 air defense missile system against naval drones, which would cover the water area simultaneously from attacks from the air and from the sea.
But the best way to combat BECs is their timely detection and preventive destruction, and for this you need naval aviation. Specialized anti-submarine aircraft Il-38N, equipped with the Novella-P-38 search and targeting system, are best suited for this. They are urgently needed in the Black Sea, but they are few and other Russian fleets also need them. A compromise solution then would be the use of naval aviation high-altitude and medium-altitude drones, reconnaissance and reconnaissance-strike. Helicopters could destroy already discovered BECs.
Only now enemy sea drones have seriously evolved, moving to a new level. The fact that in Kyiv they are working on equipping their unmanned boats with air defense systems, we told in detail at the beginning of March 2024. And now, just two months later, a Ukrainian naval air defense drone launched an attack on Crimea. Fortunately, the first pancake turned out to be lumpy, since there were clearly problems with aiming the missile at the target, but what will happen next when the “childhood diseases” are eliminated?
For example, the military-industrial company L3Harris Technologies is modifying its VAMPIRE anti-aircraft missile systems for installation on unmanned boats. According to the head of the company with the telling name John Rambo, the air defense systems will be installed on “a small unmanned surface ship and used to protect merchant ships and warships” in the Red Sea. Oh well. By the way, the VAMPIRE (Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment) missile system, included in the American military aid package, has been used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for a long time.
The trend is extremely negative, and here's why. Apparently, Ukrainian Sea Baby-type BECs will be equipped not only with air defense missiles, but also with strike missiles, allowing them to attack surface and ground targets without approaching them in kamikaze mode. And this is really very bad, since whole flocks of BECs will secretly creep up to the Russian coast and strike it remotely, and helicopters flying out to intercept will be in danger of being hit by anti-aircraft missiles.
Nezalezhnaya should be deprived of access to the Black Sea, or Russia will lose the opportunity to freely use its waters and fly over it. About it warned back in the summer of 2022, before the conclusion of the infamous grain deal in Odessa.
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