Kiev May Need to Rethink Naval Strategy- Russia’s Naval Drone

This naval drone clearly, very clearly, caught Ukraine and US by surprise!

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-drone-odesa-latest-b2280483.html

Russia attacked a key bridge in Ukraine’s Odesa region, in what is understood to be Moscow’s first use of a naval drone.

Grainy surveillance footage from Friday night showed a fast-moving object slamming into the Zatoka bridge near the strategic port city before exploding in a powerful blast.

But military analysts said the more pressing consequences would be for Ukrainian naval strategy. “Russia was not known to have these types of drones, or to think in these terms,” said HI Sutton, a defence analyst and Open Source Intelligence reporter, adding that the strike posed a “major new threat for Ukraine.”

He said: “If Russia is able to use these explosive drones against Ukrainian coastal targets, but Ukraine can no longer attack Russian warships in the same way, we may see another shift in the war in the Black Sea. This time in Russia’s favour again.”

The bridge, which was targeted by Russian missile strikes early in the war, serves the rail line to Romania, which is a key conduit for Western arms supplies.

Ukraine did not acknowledge the strike until around 24 hours later when Gen Zaluzhnyi said he had shared his concerns in a call with US chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), Mark Milley. The JCS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.

Bridge before it was struck- you can see the rail lines

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-situation-report-this-may-be-russias-first-kamikaze-drone-boat-attack

“It is difficult to talk about the scale of damage based on the available footage, but, apparently, the bridge supports were damaged,” Rybar reported. “This is the only railway bridge leading to the western part of the Odessa region directly through the territory of Ukraine. An alternative shortest route is the road, which runs almost 8 km through the territory of Moldova.”

If this attack was indeed carried out by a Russian unmanned surface vessel, it means Moscow has yet another method of attacking Ukrainian forces. Such weapons could also conceivably be elsewhere on the Black Sea, around Odesa as well as the port city of Ochakiv, which has come under constant Russian bombardment.

It’s even possible they could be used on the Dnipro River to attack Ukrainian positions in and around Kherson City, as well as potentially targets along the Southern Bug River, including maybe even Mykolaiv.

If this is the first use of a Russian 'kamikaze' drone boat, the big question is how are they controlled? Having line-of-sight connectivity is usually needed unless more advanced communications systems are used.

Ukraine appears to have leveraged Starlink for beyond-line-of-sight direct control capabilities for its drone boats, but having a boat navigate to the target area autonomously using a relatively simple autopilot, then handing off control to an operative nearby, is the most likely operational concept being employed. Also, where did Russia get these systems? It's close ally and weapons supplier Iran is a notorious pioneer when it comes to this niche capability.