'If you get four or five at a time, you can probably take those out,' Clark said, 'but if you get 40 or 50 or even a dozen, that might be too many to take out before one of them reaches the ship.'Īnd if Russia does ramp up its defenses, it's likely that Ukraine will scale up the number of its drone boats. The challenge is if a swarm or fleet of drones attacks at once. Russia's Marshal Shaposhnikov anti-submarine destroyer fires during the 'Vostok-2022' military exercises at the Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan outside the city of Vladivostok on September 5, 2022. 'The Ukrainians have been lucky in that the Russians haven't been very good, they're not prepared, they don't have the right defenses, so even a small number of these drone boats can get in and cause a lot of damage,' Bryan Clark, a former US Navy officer and defense expert at the Hudson Institute, told Insider. Prior to the hits on Olenegorsky Gornyak and Sig, previous naval drone attacks have terrorized Russian ships in the Black Sea.

Without a full-fledged navy - save a few patrol boats - Ukraine's leaders have become inventive, seeking to develop what they call 'the world's first naval fleet of drones.' The result, thus far, has been an 'asymmetrical advantage' for Ukraine, an expert previously told Insider.īut the attacks also suggest Russia has not prioritized defending against these drones, especially as Ukraine has ramped up its drone boat usage in recent weeks. The success of Ukrainian USVs against Russian ships is in part due to the novel threat they pose. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

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