Also used to blow up the Crimean bridge?: These kamikaze boats are making life difficult for the Russian navy

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Ukraine must come up with something to counter the superiority of the Russian navy. As the past war months have shown, the country relies on asymmetric warfare. Self-developed weapons may also be used here.

The Ukrainian government launched the Brave 1 initiative to support Ukrainian weapons developers and small businesses. Recently, the Toloka TLK-150 underwater drone was presented as part of the program. Did the Ukrainians use this homemade product to blow up the Crimean bridge?

On and under water

At the moment it is not possible to determine with certainty which weapon system was used on Monday night to damage the structure. However, both the Russian and Ukrainian sides say unmanned watercraft were used in the attack.

In May, submarine expert HI Sutton described the operation of the Toloka TLK-150 in an article on the specialist platform “Naval News”. “This small weapon complements the already famous unmanned surface vehicles already threatening the Russian Navy at its main base in Sevastopol,” Sutton wrote. Ukraine also received six unmanned underwater drones (UUV) from the UK, “mainly in support of mine clearance operations”.

50 kilograms of explosives, reconnaissance missions

Toloka TLK-150 works like an underwater kamikaze drone. The robotic submarine, which is only 2.5 meters long, can reportedly carry up to 50 kilograms of explosives and is equipped with a contact detonator at the tip. “The design is unconventional and shows it’s a local product,” Sutton wrote. Unusually, the weapon has two propulsion nozzles attached to small, wing-like stabilizers.

The kamikaze submarine moves just below the surface of the water and has a tall mast with cameras and communication equipment. The strikingly large keel could serve to balance the mast. According to Sutton, the Toloka TLK-150 can also be used for reconnaissance missions close to enemy shores.

Attacks on Russian ships

The Toloka TLK-150 is significantly smaller than Ukraine’s already known surface drone (USV), which is essentially a motorized boat filled with explosives. Images from an unmanned kamikaze boat that washed ashore last year show this first version of the Ukrainian attack technique.

In recent months, there have been several attacks on the base of the Russian fleet in the port of Sevastopol and on military ships in the Black Sea. Viktor Sokolow, 61, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, said in May that security measures had been tightened as a result. According to Russian media reports, Moscow’s ships will be equipped with anti-drone technology.

The attack by a swarm of drones – from the air and from the water – on the “Admiral Makarov” last October made headlines. At the end of May 2023, the Russian naval reconnaissance aircraft “Ivan Churs” is said to have become the target of a surface drone attack.

Jet ski, camera, compass and explosives

Sebastian Bruns of the Security Policy Institute at Kiel University told “Spiegel”: “Russia is clearly incapable of protecting its own infrastructure.” That suggests the renewed attack on the Crimean Bridge.

For the Ukrainians, there is a good effort-to-income ratio when using unmanned watercraft. Because the country no longer has its own navy in the traditional sense. “A jet ski, a camera, a compass – and explosives. You can do a lot with that,” says Bruns. “The Russians experienced it the hard way.” (no)

Source: Blick