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Ukraine Now Has a Drone Boat That Launches Bomber Drones

Ukraine MOD bomb drop
Courtesy Ukrainian MOD

Published Jul 3, 2025 9:24 PM by The Maritime Executive

Ukraine's drone boats have set another operational milestone: they can now be used to launch bomber drones, the heavyweight quadcopters that Ukrainian forces use to drop mortar shells and other explosives. 

In a statement, Ukraine's defense ministry said that its forces carried out a long-distance mission to destroy a Nebo-M radar system in Russian-occupied Crimea. The Nebo-M is a high-spec multiband radar that has anti-stealth and hypersonic detection capabilities, and is accompanied by one to three giant truck-mounted radar arrays. They are a priority target for Ukraine because they are capable of detecting and tracking a wide array of incoming munitions. The radar command posts are also capable of interfacing with the S-300/S-400 missile systems to provide guidance. 

Overnight July 1-2, a Ukrainian drone boat approached the coast of Crimea, carrying a heavy drone bomber on deck. It launched the drone, and the boat's satellite uplink provided a comms relay for the drone pilot to stay in contact with the UAV as it flew over the coastline. The drone pilot located the target at a parking depot and destroyed three truck-mounted components - an RLM-M VHF radar, an RLM-D AESA L-band radar, and a command post truck. 

 

This capability adds to Ukraine's fast-developing portfolio of unmanned strike drone systems. With American assistance and satellite comms technology, Ukraine developed a series of increasingly sophisticated bomb boats, then used them (along with antiship missiles) to drive the Russian Navy out of the western Black Sea. In the process, it sank or damaged about one third of the Black Sea Fleet's vessels, using swarm tactics to overwhelm the target's defenses and hit vulnerable areas. 

 

The most mature of these systems, the Magura V5, has been adapted to perform additional roles. A missile-equipped Magura shot down at least one helicopter in the Black Sea in December, the first antiaircraft strike by an unmanned boat ever recorded in combat. In May, another Magura targeted and shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter, the first time that a fast jet had ever been shot down by an unmanned boat. 

The drone wars go both ways. Russia has used its larger Orion unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) to find and destroy Ukraine's drone boats under way, before they can reach target.