The Ukrainian Naval War (2024) - Armed drones, exports & the battle for the Black Sea [Perun] - eviltoast

Russia began its Feb 2022 invasion with a massive force advantage over Ukraine in the Black Sea - but over time we’ve seen the Russian fleet steadily pushed back by a Ukrainian strategy of sea denial driven by anti-ship missiles, reconnaissance drones and, critically, USVs (AKA naval drones)

Those drones have evolved rapidly, to the point where now we’ve seen them launching rockets or fighting back against helicopters.

So in this episode, I look at the Black Sea campaign since our 2023 update, and examine the evolution of Ukrainian USVs and the Russian response.