Ukrainian security forces released images of suicide boats launching rockets at Russian warships near the Crimean peninsula, but the effectiveness of this tactic is unclear.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on January 1 that it had used a Sea Baby suicide boat equipped with a rocket launcher to attack a Russian warship near a naval port in Crimea for the first time. According to Ukrainian media, this was a counterattack carried out when a Russian warship was deployed to hunt down the SBU suicide boat.
Video released by the SBU on the same day showed the suicide boat apparently firing 14 projectiles. However, the video did not show the outcome of the battle or damage to the Russian warship.
A Ukrainian unmanned boat fires a rocket at a Russian warship near the Crimean peninsula in a video released on January 1. Video: SBU
Some Western experts believe that the Sea Baby suicide boat could be equipped with RPV-16 thermobaric rockets, a weapon developed from the Soviet-designed RPO-A Shmel. The RPO-A Shmel thermobaric rocket launcher can hit targets at a distance of 20-1,700 m.
Ukrainian media has published photos of a Sea Baby suicide boat equipped with six RPO-A Shmel thermobaric rocket launchers. "The addition of this capability is a further step by Ukraine to use the Sea Baby and other unmanned boats for suicide attacks," Drive editor Howard Altman commented.
Ukraine first used the Sea Baby suicide boats in July 2023, when the SBU launched an attack on the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea with Russia’s Krasnodar region. Ukraine subsequently used the boats several times to attack and damage several Russian warships.
However, Ukrainian officials recently said that the country has changed its doctrine to use unmanned boats. "Ukraine does not have the time or money to build large warships. However, a swarm of unmanned boats equipped with guns, air defense systems and suicide missions can solve the problem of the entire fleet in a different way," said a Ukrainian major general nicknamed Hunter.
Ukrainian unmanned boat equipped with RPO-A Shmel thermobaric rocket launcher. Photo: Ukraine 1+1
A retired Ukrainian officer said that Sea Baby has become a multipurpose platform that the SBU has actively used for various missions, including raiding the Russian Black Sea Fleet. According to the former officer, the Ukrainian unmanned boats no longer carry out suicide missions, as most of them return to base after completing their missions.
“While this sounds appealing, how effective packing all this capability onto a relatively small unmanned boat with limited autonomy can be is still up for debate,” said editor Altman.
The benefits of attaching unguided rockets to unmanned boats are also questionable, as the small craft would have difficulty launching them accurately while floating on the water. Using thermobaric shells could increase the blast radius over water, but the probability of hitting a target is still very low.
A Ukrainian defense official admitted on January 2 that "unguided rockets fired from a swaying launcher are just sporadic firepower, with very little practical value."
Nguyen Tien (According to Drive, Reuters, AFP )
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