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The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has recently unveiled its brand-new rocket-armed unmanned surface vessel (USV). This upgraded kamikaze naval drone called “the Sea Baby” is expected to inflict greater damage on Russian naval targets and strike them from a distance.
The Kyiv Independent reports that the drone has already been deployed against Russian targets around Kinburn Spit near Mykolaiv, claiming that the technological solution “is already showing powerful results…So new surprises await the enemy,” as said by a source from the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to the Defense Post, the Russian-controlled Kinburn Spit lies at the mouth of the Dnieper River and controls all vessels that are heading toward or coming from the Mykolaiv Ukrainian port. Furthermore, a video (although unverified) supposedly shows the drone firing a volley of rockets at an unseen target, though the impact of the attack is not shown.
The development that follows the Sea Baby drone being upgraded to carry a ton of explosives up to 1,000 kilometers “means that the SBU can reach a target almost anywhere in the Black Sea,” said SBU spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko.
The drone was also reported to be armed with an unguided RPV-16 thermobaric rocket launcher, which has a considerably lower range and payload compared to the BM-21 Grad’s 21 kilometers.
Nevertheless, The War Zone reports that this update regarding the drone has come with its share of skepticism in terms of the system’s applicability, writing: “The Grad is already a fairly inaccurate weapon and firing it from a very small boat as it bobs around on the waves is even less precise… Whatever type of targeting system is used, the chances are the results will be fairly indiscriminate. Presumably, the trajectory of the launch tubes can be altered to change the rockets’ trajectory, but there is still the issue of the lack of stabilization.”
This information was provided by The Defense Post.
