The Navy, together with the developers of maritime drones, is working to create forces and means that will protect Ukrainian waters from the threat of maritime drones.

This was stated by a well-known ideologist of the use of naval drones, Brigadier General Ivan Lukashevych “Hunter” of the Security Service of Ukraine at the Defense Tech Innovation Forum 2025, where Militarnyi correspondents were present.

“The Russians, albeit a year or two late, are trying to replicate our technologies, our tactics, our methodology. Our partners realize that sooner or later the Russians will start using this. The absence of sailors on board unmanned ships allows them to use such things to conduct hybrid attacks. Therefore, along with the development of new systems to destroy a large fleet, we, together with the Ukrainian Navy, are developing a methodology, as well as the forces and means to combat such things. This is the next stage in the development of unmanned systems at sea, namely, preparing for Ukraine’s defense against such things,” Lukashevych said.

According to Hunter, the defense system may be multi-component, with specialized surface drones as one of the elements, which will patrol, search and destroy threats using machine guns integrated on board.

“Currently, you can see several models of machine gun drones that can go into a five-point storm with a range of 1700 kilometers. This means that they will be able to guard the Black Sea for several days and defend against similar maritime drones,” he said.

These surface systems are equipped with search and reconnaissance systems. Together with airborne drones, which are also deployed on board, they are capable of patrolling.

Hunter notes that the Ukrainian Defense Forces are already patrolling the Black Sea with these assets: “This is what we are actually doing. We do it quietly, not publicly”.

In his video presentation at the defense forum, Lukashevych presented previously unpublished footage of combat operations, showing a model of a machine-gun marine drone used against Russian helicopters in the Black Sea.

The offshore platform is equipped with a gyro-stabilized machine gun turret with a large-caliber KPVT machine gun. Its interface is identical to the one shown on drones during the December operation of the SSU special forces near Kerch.

This drone is also equipped with a mast with a small shipboard surface search radar station, which can be used to search for surface objects at short distances and navigate in low visibility conditions.

The Russian threat

In December 2023, the Russian Kingisepp Machine-Building Plant KMZ (St. Petersburg), which specializes in the production of boats for Russian Security Forces and marine drones, presented the Oduvanchik drone.

The drone, whose acronym stands for “fast-moving unmanned carrier boat,” was ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defense in the amount of ten boards for testing.

KMZ representatives say the drone can carry a warhead or other payload weighing up to 600 kilograms. For comparison, the SeaBaby drone that hit the Crimean bridge in July 2023 carried 850 kg of explosives.

The unmanned boat can cover a distance of 200 kilometers at a speed of up to 80 km/h. This is enough to strike Odesa if launched from Crimea. In addition, it is possible that they could be launched from ships at sea.