Ukraine is starting a fundraising campaign for the world’s first fleet of naval drones, President Zelenskyy announced. He also shared a video uncovering how the drones are manufactured.
Ukraine is starting fundraising campaign for the world's first fleet of naval drones, Zelenskyy said uncovering how the drones are manufactured in video
"We must defend the waters of our seas and peaceful cities from Russian missiles launched from ships" https://t.co/DkIQtEK6wu pic.twitter.com/iD7W2LuN9v
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) November 11, 2022
“We must defend the waters of our seas and peaceful cities from Russian missiles launched from ships,” he said.
‘The main task of these drones will be to protect the waters of Ukrainian seas, as well as peaceful cities, from russian battleships and cruise missiles. The fleet will also help unlock corridors for civilian vessels to transport grain to the rest of the world,” Ukraine’s official fundraising platform U24 notes, adding that of the 4.500 missiles that Russia launched since the start of the invasion, every fifth one was seaborne.
The price of one Ukrainian-made naval drone is $246,000; the fleet is planned to comprise 100 such drones, and the organizers of the campaign hope to raise funds for the first 10 drones on Ukraine’s official fundraising platform U24 during the first day.
“100 multipurpose surface devices will cement the success of the Navy, following the sinking of the Moskva cruiser and recapturing of the Zmiinyi (Snake) Island. They will also give us the opportunity to better protect both the sea and our country’s entire territory,”
said Oleksiy Neizhpapa, Vice Admiral, Commander of the Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Navy, U24 writes.
“They can participate in long-range maritime reconnaissance and coastal surveillance, escorting and supporting the traditional fleet, convoying merchant ships, zoning in artillery fire, defending our bases and countering amphibious operations. Such naval drones have already proven their effectiveness, and can change the situation in the Black Sea significantly.”
Naval, or surface, drones were behind Ukraine’s recent successful attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, when three Russian ships, including acting flagship Admiral Makarov, were damaged. The attack has been appraised as a groundbreaking development in naval warfare and more important than Ukraine’s sinkage of Russian flagship Moskva.
Better than Moskva: four things to know about Ukraine’s drone attack on Russian Fleet in Sevastopol
