The Ukrainian Navy carried out the first documented Ukraine Russia Naval Drone Battle in the Black Sea, destroying a Russian attack USV with a Sargan-3000. The Russian drone was sunk after the Ukrainian Navy USV used a Kongsberg Protector RWS with a 12.7mm machine gun.
Black Sea USV duel
The fight was a rare direct drone-on-drone interception at sea. The Russian USV was identified as an improved Orcan type, also referred to as Zefir or Zephyr in some Russian sources, and it was built as a relatively small system intended for explosive attacks.
The Sargan-3000, also known as the Seawolf, is one of the main USV types associated with the Ukrainian Navy. In this encounter, the drone was armed with a Kongsberg Protector RWS and used that weapon to sink the Russian USV.
Russia's Orcan USVs
Before the engagement, Russia had been basing USVs in northwestern Crimea, in Chornomors’ke, and at Lake Donuzlav. The base on Lake Donuzlav includes dispersed revetments dug into the shoreline so the USVs can be protected before launch.
The Orcan is similar in size and concept to Ukraine’s original Magura V3 and V5 types, with an internally mounted motor driving a jet ski type steerable water jet. Russian USVs also work with deep strike drones, especially the Geran type, which can provide oversight and control and can act as repeaters to extend the range of the USV’s mesh radios.
Nordex and Kongsberg
The event also shows the difference between what a USV is built to do and how it is actually being used. USVs are intended to be expendable, so the loss of one hull is not significant on an attrition count, but the method of destruction is consequential and will likely push both sides toward an evolution of tactics in the Northwestern Black Sea between Odesa and Crimea.
That leaves the operational question in plain view: where, exactly, the first naval drone duel took place. The exact vicinity of the fight has not been reported, but the same sea space that has seen more frequent Russian USV attacks on Odesa is now the place where one uncrewed surface drone destroyed another in combat.
