Ukraine’s Sea Babies are once again changing naval warfare

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

What do you call it when a sea baby births an FPV? Lethal.

Ukraine’s navy—which consists mostly of unmanned drones—just got a major upgrade to its domestically produced Sea Baby unmanned surface vessels. They can now carry unmanned aerial vehicles too.

The Ukrainian navy posted footage of a recent mission using the new combination against Russian oil platforms in the Black Sea.
Footage of the encounter was captured by various cameras and thermal sensors. In one shot, an FPV drone is seen targeting some Russian soldiers on a platform. Later, the platform is seen experiencing a rapid disintegration and expedited submersion.

Ukraine’s Sea Baby drones already have a hallowed reputation. They were used to attack and sink so many ships in Russia’s Black Sea fleet that Russia essentially abandoned naval operations there.

Sea Babies were also used in attacks on the Kerch Bridge. And when Ukraine mounted Grad rockets to them, the USVs proved effective at attacking troops and equipment on land or in the air.

In another recent innovation, Ukraine put some high-caliber machine guns on a few Sea Babies and turned the tables on some Russian aircraft on the prowl. Ukraine’s security service says it intercepted Russian communications during and after the encounter. The battle reportedly ended in several casualties aboard Russian helicopters, and the vehicles themselves now require extensive repair.

Now that Ukraine can launch aerial attack vehicles from its Sea Babies, the list of potential targets just grew even bigger.

Ukraine is leading the charge in real-time unmanned aerial vehicle innovations. Its army of drones can deploy claymores from the air, drop thermite on enemy positions and treelines, down enemy surveillance drones—
And now, they’re helping take out multi-billion dollar facilities. Not too shabby from a country that was supposed to fall in three days—almost three years ago.