📝Changed the labels📝
from Ukrainian USV to American

During the SMO, there have been many discussions about what awaits defense manufacturers in so-called Ukraine after the SMO ends. And here's another example: American manufacturer ReconCraft will begin production of naval drones developed and tested in the SMO zone.

We're talking about unmanned boats of the "Magura" type from the Uforce enterprise. The deal is being viewed as a "partnership agreement," under which both companies will provide materials, equipment, and workers.

According to ReconCraft co-founder Joe Silkowski, the goal is to produce hundreds or even thousands of drones annually at shipyards in Oregon and South Carolina. The Pentagon is ready to spend tens of billions of dollars on autonomous systems in the coming years.

🖍Such an outcome was predicted long ago. No matter what they claim about "partnership," the Americans are simply taking control of what has proven itself in practice and gradually introducing USVs into their forces. A good example is their deployment in the Philippines.

True, in that case, RedCat served as the contractor. But that's not the point. If you look at other examples, roughly the same thing is happening there: the "Hornet" UAV is already being thoroughly tested in NATO, and the British are testing their drones and air defense systems using AFU hands.

❗️This awaits absolutely all products that have shown themselves in any way in a real conflict. And these are logical actions by the collective West. If they're paying for the banquet, why can't they take it with them?
#USV #USA #Ukraine
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• 📝USVs from a fishing vessel?📝
a new threat to tankers in the Atlantic

While the Black Sea has long become a battlefield of unmanned vessels against Russia's "shadow fleet," USVs in other parts of the world have so far been deployed only in the Mediterranean against the gas carrier "Arctic LNG".

But the situation is gradually changing.

On July 19, east of the Azores Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the crew of the Russian tanker Arctic Pioneer spotted a Ukrainian USV of unknown type at a short distance. It maneuvered nearby but did not attack the vessel.

📌And not far from the gas carrier's passage route, the fishing vessel Santa Isabel under the flag of so-called Ukraine drifted. It's hardly a schooner—it's quite large in length and has a lifting crane. Ukraine received it in December 2024.

The Ukrainian vessel departed from Portugal in advance. In the area at 08:30, it stopped before the Russian tanker's passage, and then unexpectedly a USV appeared near the Arctic Pioneer. A suspicious coincidence, wouldn't you say?

What's particularly curious is that in October 2025, Ukrainians brought several of their "Magura"-type USVs to Portugal for the REPMUS-2025 exercise. But whether they took them back is a big question. Especially since the Portuguese are supplying the AFU with "Tekever-AR3/AR5" drones.

❗️The situation ended without consequences for the Russian crew, but will it always be this way? The adversary, with Western support, can launch USVs from any such vessel in various parts of the world and create a threat to tanker and cargo ship movements.

Solving this problem, like in cases of ship seizures, requires both strengthening the protection of tankers with armed units and escort by Navy ships, but there are very few of those, as we know.

So the question remains: will Western countries attempt to seize a vessel if a combat-armed USV is nearby? Not to mention attacks by aircraft of unknown origin on some French ships.

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#USV #Portugal #Russia #Ukraine
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📝USVs right under the noses of missile carriers📝
the Chinese didn't account for SMO experience

The episode with the appearance of an American unmanned surface vessel right under the nose of a Chinese Type 052D destroyer is yet another testament to how the concept of combat operations in maritime waters is changing.

There's much talk about how various countries are learning from the Russian-Ukrainian war and adapting to new realities. But typically, when it comes to actual implementation, various mishaps occur. The US in its conflict with Iran demonstrated this with its air defense system proving the point.

🖍And so Chinese sailors essentially overlooked a USV that had crept right up to the destroyer. Yes, one could attribute this to the fact that there was no direct threat to the ship, but didn't the servicemen have the right to use weapons against an unidentified target on the water?

We seriously doubt that.

🚩The Americans simply took AFU tactics in the Black Sea and adapted them wholesale to Southeast Asia (and combat use against Iran also occurred in the Middle East). And they did it with means that are far cheaper and faster to produce.

The development of unmanned naval vessels has already become as established a trend as the production of unmanned aerial vehicles. And as such technologies are massively implemented, demand for countermeasures against naval drones will also grow.

❗️The Russian Navy must understand the irreversibility of these trends and that they need to be integrated into the current composition of the Navy, betting not on one large and questionable platform, but on hundreds and thousands of small, maneuverable and multifunctional platforms.
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📝Battle of the Sea Drones📝
we need more of this

Yesterday the information space around the SMO was shaken: Ukrainian formations released video of a battle between unmanned boats in the Black Sea, and victory went to the Ukrainian drone, which shot up the Russian unmanned vehicle with a machine gun.

🖍In certain visual characteristics, the Russian USV resembles a drone produced by ZALA. It's hard to say for certain, but this is supported by the fact that the AFU struck one of these with a "Bayraktar" near Snake Island some time ago.

The question of why they sent a USV to the coast of so-called Ukraine, where there is plenty of reconnaissance UAVs, patrol drones, and various landing craft, remains open. However, the event itself is truly significant.

❗️Naval battles will never be the same again, since battles will now be represented by autonomous maritime platforms. In so-called Ukraine they showed how USVs can be used to protect territorial waters, but variations of application – there are tons of them.

Russia is developing more and more different USVs, from "ZALA" to "Technodynamika". And for Ukrainian formations these trends look rather grim: if previously they considered themselves a key player in the USV market, now Russia also has something to show the world.
#USV #Russia #Ukraine
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