Russian Missile Corvette Sunk by Swarm of Drones, Says Ukraine

Tarantul
Wikimedia Commons / Ukraine Defence Forces / Collage
Oliver JJ Lane

Ukraine claims to have sunk a Soviet-era missile corvette in the Black Sea, releasing footage showing a swarm of drone boats bombing the ship and it sinking.

A Russian Molniya [NATO name ‘Tarantul’] missile corvette, a relatively small and fast Cold War-era attack ship meant for swarming and taking out high-value Western warships with supersonic cruise missiles has reportedly been destroyed in the Black Sea. Ukraine claimed to have sunk the ship with a drone swarm in the early hours of January 1st, achieving “a series of direct hits to the hull” causing the ship to roll over and sink.

A video cut from several feeds of point-of-view footage from the drones in the swarm show the approach, moments of impact, and eventual loss of the vessel. In various shots the Tarantul Corvette identified by Ukraine as the Ivanovets can be seen silhouetted on the horizon, attempting to take out the remote-controlled suicide boats with gunfire, and a gaping hole in the side of the hull.

Vast explosions are presented, apparently by other drones holding back. That Ukraine sent considerably more of the unmanned suicide boats to hit the corvette than was eventually actually needed is illustrated by the final shots showing the ship going down by the stern first, the bow pointing high in the air before presumably slipping under.

Even 24 hours after the apparent loss, Russian state media has not carried coverage or comment on the attack.

Ukraine has been developing home-grown sea surface attack drones, created and manned by officers of the National Intelligence Bureau at an “underground facility”. Ukraine claimed in August to have successfully launched an attack against the Russian landing ship Olengorskiy Gornyak with drones.

As reported of the drones then:

Ukraine has said they have operated so far with between 450 and 850kg of explosives onboard. Footage of the craft in use so far, including of the drone strike on the Cold War-era Russian heavy landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak shows a speedboat-size craft with a single onboard engine, possibly of welded-sheet construction.

Sensor and radio provision is evident in a series of domes on the top of the craft, and a binnacle with wave deflector up forward seems to contain at least a ‘point of view’ type camera for the remote pilot. A further boxed-out area on the bow may contain a contact fuse for the explosives onboard.

The Warzone reports the latest generation of drones cruise at 22 knots but have a dash speed of 42 knots (48 mph) and have an air-based repeater — presumably another drone — to facilitate communication and control.

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