Lukashevich on the latest modernization of "Sea Babies": range of over 950 km and new powerful warheads
Kyiv • UNN
Ukrainian naval drones that sink Russian warships have become more lethal because they are armed with larger warheads and have a longer range to hit targets.
Ukrainian naval drones that sink Russian warships have become more deadly. They have been armed with larger warheads and increased the range of their targets. This was reported by Business Insider with reference to Brigadier General of the SBU Military Counterintelligence Ivan Lukashevych, UNN reported.
In 2024, we have completely different parameters for drones. ...Especially compared to the ones we first tested in October 2022 to attack Russian warships in the Sevastopol Bay.
Details
Lukashuk told the publication that after conducting several operations with unmanned boats, the military realized where they could be improved and refined. The systems have been significantly modernized over the course of the war and are now "stronger, more efficient and deadlier" than they were before.
Currently, their range is over 950 kilometers. Ukrainian maritime drones can cover a distance almost twice as long as the distance between Odesa and Sevastopol.
We realized the shortcomings in those first projects, but the manufacturer could not foresee these things because at that time there was no expertise in the world for such highly technical drones.
The first modification of the Sea Babies that Lukashevich introduced was to increase the size of the warhead; according to the Ukrainian government, the drones are capable of delivering heavy explosives weighing nearly 1900 pounds.
The next major upgrade was to "improve seaworthiness," so that they could sail in waves of almost five feet.
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The third improvement was to enable the Sea Babies to sail twice the distance between Odesa, a port city in southern Ukraine, and Sevastopol on the southwestern coast of Crimea.
In a straight line across the Black Sea, there are approximately 190 miles between the two cities. The drones now have a range of more than 600 miles, providing many more Russian targets.
Ukraine also "wanted to make them reusable so that they would be both cheaper and more effective," Lukashevych added
