Ukraine launches naval drone fleet fundraising campaign
The cost of one drone is UAH 10 million (Photo:FEDOROV / Telegram)
Ukraine’s UNITED24 platform recently launched a fundraising campaign to procure an entire fleet of naval drones. On Oct. 29, the Ukrainian military attacked Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in occupied Sevastopol, Crimea, with several air and naval drones, damaging Russian flagship Admiral Makarov. It was the world's first naval attack carried out exclusively with drones.
“Today, Ukraine starts assembling the world’s first Naval Fleet of Drones,” the message on UNITED24 website reads.
“It will protect Ukrainian waters and peaceful cities from cruise missiles, launched by Russian warships. It will unblock shipping lanes for civilian vessels to transport grain to the whole world,”
Every Ukrainian can pitch in. The first goal is to assemble a fleet of 100 drone vessels to defend civilian ships, participate in maritime reconnaissance and coastal surveillance, correct artillery fire, and counter amphibious operations.
Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Federov said the first drone vessel will be named Kherson.
Here are the key features of these drones:
• Vessel length is 5,5 meters;
• Full weight is up to 1000 kg, including up to 200 kg of payload;
• Top speed is up to 80 km/h (50 mph) with a total range of 800 km (about 500 miles);
• Video transmission allows up to 3 HD video streams to control the drone;
• Allows for both manual and automatic navigation.
One drone costs $250,000 (UAH 10 million). This price includes the vessel itself, equipped with autopilot features, video subsystems (including night vision), backup communication modules and combat functionality, along with a ground-based autonomous control station, transportation and storage system, as well as a data processing center.
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