Ukraine has shown its sea drone Katran X1.2 carrying 27 AI-guided MAC Dead Fly interceptor drones. Ukraine's Defense Intelligence has conducted tests on the Dnipro River for WELT.
The system is the product of cooperation between the Ukrainian company MAC HUB and the naval branch of the "Black Sea LegionЄ part of the Defense Intelligence FERRATA active-action unit.
An uncrewed surface vessel acting as a mobile launch platform for a swarm of AI interceptors, fusing naval drone warfare with air defense, is a technological and tactical novelty.
The operational logic is concrete: Russian Shaheds frequently follow Ukrainian rivers as low corridors toward Kyiv and other cities.
Drones carried 27 MAC Dead Fly interceptors
The Katran X1.2 is a multipurpose sea drone, 9 meters long, with a 350-horsepower engine and a range of up to 1,600 kilometers, capable of acting as a kamikaze craft, carrying two short-range R-73 missiles, and transporting various aerial drones.
On board for this test were 27 MAC Dead Fly interceptors with built-in AI that can detect targets autonomously and reach speeds of up to 380 km/h, which is "enough to destroy a Shahed," with engineers working to raise that to 450 km/h at the military's request.
The sea drone and interceptors were operated from a mobile shore command post via the MAC Mission Control system, which links combat platforms into a single network for real-time coordination.
Platform with a combat record
The Katran, developed by MAC HUB, is operated by the Black Sea Legion, which has officially confirmed attacks on Russian oil and gas platforms in the Black Sea, and the X1.2 was used in operations last fall.
Euromaidan Press previously reported a Black Sea Legion operator describing the Katran as a strategic tool with an officially declared 1,600-kilometer range, but missions claimed as far as 3,000 kilometers, against the backdrop of a Ukrainian naval-drone campaign that destroyed up to a third of Russia's Black Sea Fleet between 2022 and 2024.
