Ukrainian Commander Warns NATO Naval Drones Lack Combat-Tested Design After Black Sea Success
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Jun 25
Ukrainian Commander Warns NATO Naval Drones Lack Combat-Tested Design After Black Sea Success
2 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Jun 25
Summary
Ninth, a Ukrainian GUR naval drone commander, said NATO countries are rapidly building naval drone fleets but some technical requirements leave him "uneasy" because they are not shaped by combat experience.
Ukraine’s systems have been refined through years of Black Sea strikes that damaged Russian warships and pushed much of Moscow’s fleet away from occupied Crimea, giving Kyiv real-world feedback NATO designers lack.
He said the main weaknesses involve design, system behavior and electronics, with naval drones needing to survive rough seas, maintain communications and keep operating autonomously if links are lost.
European and US navies have mostly used such drones for patrols, surveillance and exercises, while Ukraine has armed them with machine guns and missiles and validates changes in combat within hours.
The warning reinforces broader Ukrainian calls for NATO to prepare faster for modern warfare, where wartime engineering cycles can compress 10 days of peacetime development into one.