Red Cat Plans to Start Marketing Ukraine’s Drone Boats to the U.S. Navy
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An American military drone developer has set up a new division to sell Ukrainian-tested drone boat technology to the U.S. Navy, closing the loop on the cycle of innovation that has defined the Black Sea theater of the conflict.<\/p>\n
As soon as the Russian full-scale invasion began in 2022, the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet imposed a naval blockade<\/a>\u00a0on Ukraine’s seaports, repeatedly striking<\/a> foreign-flag merchant ships off the coast. With American and European assistance, Ukraine countered with strikes of its own. Its forces sank the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva<\/a><\/em>\u00a0with antiship missiles, and followed up with strikes on Russian warships in Crimea<\/a>\u00a0using British\/French Storm Shadow cruise missiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Ukraine’s real innovation was an exploding one-way drone boat, remotely controlled and cheap enough to be expendable. It was based on an American prototype that had been designed to counter a Chinese invasion fleet in the Taiwan Strait, according to the New York Times<\/a>. Using this American-origin design, American Starlink connectivity, and American targeting support<\/a>, Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency (GUR) began regularly damaging or destroying Russian vessels in and around Crimea<\/a> using swarm tactics.\u00a0<\/p>\n After several design iterations, Ukraine’s drone boats have also been up-gunned to carry strike UAVs<\/a> and anti-aircraft missiles to counter Russian air patrols. Using a mix of short range missiles, these drone boats have become the first unmanned vessels in history to shoot down helicopters and fighter aircraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n Using drones alone, the GUR’s Group 13<\/a> helped Ukraine\u00a0attain sea control<\/a> of the western Black Sea, driving the Black Sea Fleet into the relative safety of the Novorossiysk area –\u00a0without the benefit of a conventional navy. Its success made the Magura design instantly recognizable in defense circles.\u00a0<\/p>\n