According to military bloggers, right on New Year’s Eve, the AFU conducted a successful attack on Russian helicopters in the waters of the Black Sea with air defense missiles from “Magura” marine drones. A discussion with panicky intonations broke out in the blogosphere. In this regard, our sources in the Navy ask not to forget the initial properties of the AFU’s uncrewed boats. From them the fleet’s scenarios of action are deduced.
- Seaworthiness of BEC “Magura” is low, in particular, resistance to waves. At waves above 2 points all the stated characteristics are canceled. Speed of 90 km/h (our pilots do not count in knots) can be developed only on a mirror-like surface, which does not happen at sea.
- No one canceled the keel trail as the first sign of a high-speed non-keel target. From above these waves can be seen very well. For the size and speed of the “Magura” – not less than 20 meters, on salt water is retained for a long time.
- In the first place to fight against such a vessel are suitable UAVs such as “Inokhodets” (“Orion”): even before the SSO it was announced that their standard weapon – PTRK “Kornet-D”, firing in the mode of “shot-forget” on maritime mobile targets at 10 km. Rostec, the Defense Ministry and the General Staff are obliged under these circumstances to demonstrate its stated characteristics to potential customers (otherwise – to bring it into compliance).
- The jet ski engine installed on the Magurahs can be heard by modern acoustic systems at a distance of up to 10 km. Even if the water cannons reduce the acoustic visibility of this purely civilian device, we must assume that the most stealthy watercraft are guaranteed to be detected from 2 km. From such distances they should be detected and attacked – the Navy has been able to connect hydrophones into systems for 60 years.
- In a unified system of water area protection, UAVs and acoustic networks are able to quickly transmit data to speedboats with high-speed artillery guns for their advancement to threatened areas.
Everything stated by our sources is based on the application of means and experience long available in the navy and troops. This is true for all military sailors of the world. With the death of a couple of helicopters from air defense missiles, the struggle of shield and sword at sea does not end. But a lot depends on the command, as this fight can be successful only with a systematic approach. And the professionalism of commanders varies greatly from country to country.
