Ukraine unveils upgraded sea drone for Black Sea strike missions

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s state security service has unveiled an upgraded sea drone it says can now operate anywhere in the Black Sea, carry heavier weapons and use artificial intelligence for targeting.

Ukraine has used the unmanned naval drones to target Russian shipping and infrastructure in the Black Sea. The Security Service of Ukraine, known by its Ukrainian acronym SBU, has credited strikes by the unmanned vessel known as the “ Sea Baby” with forcing a strategic shift in Russia’s naval operations.

The range of the Sea Baby was expanded from 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to 1,500 kilometers (930 miles), SBU said. It can carry up to 2,000 kilograms (about 4,400 pounds) of payload, SBU officials said.

At a demonstration attended by The Associated Press, variants included vessels fitted with a multiple-rocket launcher and another with a stabilized machine-gun turret.

SBU Brig. Gen. Ivan Lukashevych said the new vessels also feature AI-assisted friend-or-foe targeting systems and can launch small aerial attack drones and multilayered self-destruct systems to prevent capture.

Developing a new kind of naval warfare

Drone strikes have been used in successful attacks against 11 Russian vessels, including frigates and missile carriers, SBU said, prompting the Russian navy to relocate its main base from Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea coast.

“The SBU became the first in the world to pioneer this new kind of naval warfare — and we continue to advance it,” Lukashevych said, adding that the Sea Baby has evolved from a single-use strike craft into a reusable, multipurpose platform that expands Ukraine’s offensive options.

Authorities asked that the time and location of the demonstration not be made public for security reasons.

The craft are operated remotely from a mobile control center inside a van, where operators use a bank of screens and controls.

“Cohesion of the crew members is probably the most important thing. We are constantly working on that,” said one operator who was identified only by his call sign, “Scout,” per Ukrainian military protocol.

Ukrainian sea drones helped push back Russia’s navy

The SBU also said sea drones helped carry out other high-profile strikes, including repeated attacks on the Crimean Bridge, most recently targeting its underwater supports in a bid to to render it unusable for heavy military transport.

The Sea Baby program is partially funded by public donations through a state-run initiative and is coordinated with Ukraine’s military and political leadership.

The evolution from expendable strike boats to reusable, networked drones marks an important advance in asymmetric naval warfare, Lukashevych said.

“On this new product, we have installed rocket weaponry that will allow us to work from a large distance outside of the attack range of enemy fire. We can use such platforms to carry heavy weaponry,” he said. “Here we can show Ukrainians the most effective use of the money they have donated to us.”

Associated Press journalists Alex Babenko, Yehor Konovalov and Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report.

乌克兰基辅（美联社）——乌克兰国家安全局推出了一款升级版海上无人机，称其现在可以在黑海任何地方作业，携带更重的武器，并使用人工智能进行目标定位。

乌克兰利用无人海军无人机袭击了黑海的俄罗斯船只和基础设施。乌克兰安全局（SBU）认为，代号为“海之宝贝”（Sea Baby）的无人舰艇的袭击迫使俄罗斯海军战略发生了转变。

乌克兰国家安全局（SBU）表示，“海宝贝”无人机的航程已从1000公里（620英里）扩大到1500公里（930英里）。SBU官员称，该无人机可携带高达2000公斤（约4400磅）的有效载荷。

在美联社记者参加的一次演示中，展出的型号包括装有多管火箭炮的舰艇和装有稳定机枪炮塔的舰艇。

乌克兰国家安全局准将伊万·卢卡舍维奇表示，这些新型舰艇还配备了人工智能辅助的敌我识别系统，可以发射小型空中攻击无人机和多层自毁系统以防止被俘。

发展一种新型海战

俄罗斯国家安全局表示，无人机袭击已成功击沉11艘俄罗斯舰艇，其中包括护卫舰和导弹航母，这促使俄罗斯海军将其主要基地从克里米亚的塞瓦斯托波尔迁至俄罗斯黑海沿岸的新罗西斯克。

卢卡舍维奇说：“乌克兰国家安全局率先在世界上开创了这种新型海战，而且我们还在不断推进这项技术。”他还补充说，“海宝贝”号已经从一次性攻击艇发展成为可重复使用的多用途平台，扩大了乌克兰的进攻选择。

出于安全考虑，当局要求不要公开示威活动的具体时间和地点。

这些飞行器由货车内的移动控制中心进行远程操作，操作人员使用一排屏幕和控制装置。

“机组人员之间的凝聚力可能是最重要的。我们一直在努力提高这一点，”一位操作员说道，根据乌克兰军方规定，他只被称作“侦察兵”。

乌克兰海上无人机帮助击退了俄罗斯海军。

乌克兰国家安全局还表示，海上无人机协助实施了其他一些备受瞩目的袭击，包括多次袭击克里米亚大桥，最近一次的目标是其水下支撑结构，目的是使其无法用于重型军事运输。

“海洋宝贝”计划的部分资金来自国家运营的公共捐款，并与乌克兰军政领导层协调。

卢卡舍维奇表示，从一次性攻击艇到可重复使用、联网无人机的演变，标志着非对称海战取得了重要进步。

“我们在这款新产品上安装了火箭武器，使我们能够在敌方火力攻击范围之外的远距离作战。我们可以利用这种平台携带重型武器，”他说道。“在这里，我们可以向乌克兰人民展示他们捐赠给我们的资金是如何得到最有效的利用的。”

美联社记者 Alex Babenko、Yehor Konovalov 和 Volodymyr Yurchuk 对本报道亦有贡献。