The world's first Naval Fleet of Drones is being assembled in Ukraine. Fundraising for this innovative project is taking place on the united24 platform, launched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Multipurpose unmanned surface vehicles are a new development in Ukraine. These small boats can do things like long-range reconnaissance and coastal surveillance, helping out other boats, escorting merchant ships, and attacking both moving and stationary targets.
In October 29th, an aerial and naval drone attack (video below) successfully targeted Russian ships in Sevastopol. For the first time in history, an attack was launched and executed by unmanned vessels alone. Three Russian ships were damaged as a result, including the Admiral Makarov- the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
This intrepid operation had a spectacular outcome - Russia no longer has its unquestioned superiority at sea. The very ships that have been killing Ukrainian civilians - missile-armed warships - became targets themselves.
The Ukrainian development of multipurpose unmanned surface vehicles is unrivaled. It boasts a length of 5.5 meters (216 inches), a weight capacity of 1000 kg (2204 lbs) when fully loaded, the ability to carry 200 kg (440 lbs) of combat load, an operational radius up to 400 km (248 miles), total range up to 800 km (498 miles), and autonomy for 60 hours with a max speed limit 80 kmh (50 mph). These robots rely on automatic GNSS navigation systems as well as inertial and visual aids (with HD video streaming that is 256-bit encrypted).
Ukrainian naval drone
The cost of one drone is estimated at 250,000 USD. This price not only accounts for the drone itself--which has autopilot capabilities, a video subsystem (that comes with night vision), backup communication modules, and combat functionality--but also the ground-based control station that's autonomous, the transportation and storage system specific to this model, as well as a data processing center.
Source: united24
