Gundarov told whether protection against Ukrainian kamikaze boats is possible

This week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine again tried to attack Russian ships in the Black Sea using unmanned kamikaze surface boats. This time the attack was carried out on warships 237 kilometers southwest of Sevastopol. The patrol ship “Vasily Bykov” and the guard ship “Inquisitive”, using on-board weapons, destroyed the Ukrainian drone. However, this incident, apparently, is not the last.

Where did the APU get these drones from? How many? What defenses against sea drones do our warships have? This was told to “MK” by a military expert captain 1st rank in the reserve Vladimir Gundarov.

“Unlike torpedoes,” the expert explains, “such a surface drone is an easy-to-control weapon directed at a target by an operator. A torpedo needs a torpedo tube to launch, a carrier ship, and many other auxiliary devices and mechanisms to launch. A crewless boat can be delivered from anywhere by any means of transport – on a trailer, by train, or at least by a cart. Roll it to the water’s edge, launch it and send it where you want.

So I have no doubt that Ukrainians are only getting a taste of it. They will continue to use these unmanned boats, especially since, as the head of the SBU, Major General Malyuk, said, they are already making these drones themselves at some underground factory. So our military, I think, will have to meet with them more often.

– Wait, they said that the British supply such boats to Kyiv?

– Say yes. Perhaps the first samples were British, but now the Ukrainians themselves have learned how to make them. At least, if you believe their head of the SBU, who said that they are now producing them on their own, from their own components. But I think he got a little lied here.

– Why? Is it such a complex production?

– No, that’s not the point. After almost every such attack, frames appear on the Web every time where we can observe how such a boat approaches the ship and after the explosion the picture disappears. All this is filmed by a video camera mounted on a drone. Naturally, the picture is transmitted via satellite. It is clear that Ukrainians can put a video camera on a drone, but then it’s all already Western satellite systems and Western technologies.

Yes, it will be quite difficult for Ukrainians to even make their own transmitter. He, most likely, is also imported, probably “Starlink”. But I have no doubt that they will continue to improve these boats.

– In the direction? To make them as invisible as possible?

– Yes. For example, now, judging by the picture, such a boat is made of metal. The iron case, they can try to make it plastic to reduce its radar visibility.

– How many Ukrainians are now able to independently produce such drones on a monthly basis?

-The productivity of their plant, of course, is unknown to us. But, judging by the fact that only in August there were about 4-5 cases of using these boats – and they do not launch them one at a time – that production will allow them to carry out about ten terrorist attacks per month. And who knows, maybe in the future they plan to increase production.

– And we will let them? We do not know where this plant is located in order to launch a missile attack on it?

– I think we’ll find out. Intelligence works. From the time of the USSR, the Russian military command inherited all the data on underground structures in Ukraine. Apparently, now in our military department this issue is being directly dealt with.

I want to remind you that on August 14, our Ministry of Defense reported that a group attack had already been carried out on the places of production and storage of unmanned boats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with high-precision long-range sea-based weapons. It is quite possible that this influenced the fact that on August 18 it was reported about an attempt to attack our ships no longer by a group of naval drones, but by just one device. Apparently, such strikes will be repeated after we receive accurate intelligence.

– Do we have means on ships capable of seeing such an apparatus at a great distance?

– Yes, I have. Such a boat is, in principle, a torpedo, only controlled by radio. And, like any torpedo, of course, it can be tracked, detected in advance and then destroyed. The only thing is that, like a torpedo, it is almost impossible for a ship to evade a sea drone, because this is not an airplane or a helicopter capable of performing an anti-missile maneuver.

And you can see such an apparatus with the help of the ship’s hydroacoustic means, radar stations. It also emits a satellite signal. Finally, it can be seen visually, as this drone leaves a contrail on the water.

– How is the plane in the sky during the flight?

– Approximately. When moving behind the boat, there is such a breaker, the waves from which on the surface of the water diverge in different directions. But what is the problem here? In order to keep track of all this, first of all, it concerns the contrail, then you need to constantly keep special means of duty in the air – an airplane, a helicopter, a drone … After all, even a balloon – what if we have them?

– But for now, as I understand it, we still have problems with the detection of sea drones, if the Crimean bridge was damaged with their help? If they had been seen earlier then, they would have reacted faster and destroyed them.

– The problem of detection in the distance. The further you find, the more accurately you will destroy later.

– This time, the Vasily Bykov patrol ship and the Inquisitive patrol ship, it must be understood, managed to detect the Ukrainian drone in time?

– By the way, why did we have two ships at that moment, so to speak, in pairs on combat duty in the Black Sea? Because they complement each other. On a patrol ship, for example, there is an automatic 100-millimeter AK-100 naval artillery mount. By the way, it is very ancient, but is still used, as it is very effective. She shoots and hits targets at a distance of up to 21 km. And on “Vasily Bykov” there is an AK-176 gun. It is 76.2 mm, and it has a range of about 9 kilometers.

That is, a long distance is covered – 21 kilometers, a close one – up to 9 kilometers. It is likely that such weapons will be installed on other ships.

But most importantly, the “Vasily Bykov” has a four-barreled Vladimirov heavy machine gun, with a rate of fire of up to 10 rounds per second. This is a very high rate of fire. It is very old, it began to be produced back in 1944, when the Great Patriotic War was still going on, and it still stands on ships.

– Is there anything else?

– And why, if this is an excellent weapon that meets modern requirements? Therefore, even on the latest “Vasily Bykov” is this large-caliber very reliable machine gun. As a matter of fact, it is with this machine gun that such sea drones are shot on the way. He has a shooting range of up to two kilometers. This is just the distance when it is already clear that either a torpedo or this unmanned boat is coming at you. You visually observe it and shoot from this machine gun. This is the most effective melee defense.

Most likely, a patrol ship, which, apparently, does not have this machine gun – although it may be put on all ships in the future – and is on duty in tandem with a patrol ship, protecting ships from unmanned boats in the far and near zone.

– And how far can these unmanned boats go?

– Again, according to the Ukrainian side, their range is up to 800 kilometers. This covers, in principle, a significant part of the Black Sea. We are talking about the latest model of their drone. Such a kamikaze boat can carry up to 850 kilograms of explosives, which is a serious threat to our Black Sea Fleet, or, say, to the same Crimean bridge. To protect it, booms are required to prevent such boats from approaching the bridge piers.

– By the way, when the Sig tanker, 30 miles from the Kerch Strait, received a hole during an attack by its sea drone, military correspondents talked about another sea drone that tried to blow up the support of the Crimean bridge. They say that he could not approach him because of the booms installed there shortly.

– Very likely. But still, the best defense against such terrorist attacks and attacks from the sea by kamikaze drones on the ships of our Black Sea Fleet is to take Kyiv and put an end to the terrorist regime. After all, sea drones are the same terrorist Bandera tactics, only at a new technical level.