Ukraine Unleashes Tesla's Weapon In The Black Sea

Forbes

26-03-2025

Computer model of Ukraine's Katran drone boat announced yesterday
In 1898 famed inventor Nikola Tela unveiled a new invention which he believed would transform war, a radio-controlled boat which would allow small powers to fight off larger ones.
'War will cease to be possible when all the world knows to-morrow that the most feeble of the nations can supply itself immediately with a weapon which will render its coast secure and its ports impregnable to the assaults of the united armadas of the world,' Tesla declared. 'Battleships will cease to be built, and the mightiest armorclads and the most tremendous artillery afloat will be of no more use than so much scrap iron.'
Needless to say, the technology took longer to mature than Tesla expected. But now Ukraine has launched a new type of drone boat carrying torpedoes which may fulfil Tesla's prophecy.
Ukraine has already fought a highly successful campaign on the Black Sea, pitting small robot speedboats – Uncrewed Surface Vessels of USVs – against Russian warships. In the vast majority of attacks, these USVs have been packed with explosives for one-way attacks to ram opposing vessels and explode.
As HI Sutton has recorded in detail, the drone boats, in conjunction with aerial drones and long-range anti-ship missiles, have successfully driven back the Russian fleet, allowing Ukraine to continue grain exports.
Russian warship Sergey Kotov during an attack by Ukrainian drone boats
Ukraine has deployed at least fifteen different types of USV, from simple robot jet skis and repurposed commercial drone boats to the large Sea Baby which carried out attacks on the Kerch Bridge.
Evolutions have included arming the boats with unguided rockets to attack land targets, and USVs with surface-to-air missiles. One of these shot down a Russian helicopter last December, the first ever such kill from a drone boat.
More recently, Ukrainian USVs have acted as aircraft carriers for small FPV attack drones, carrying out strikes on coastal targets including radar and surface-to-air missile launchers.
On Tuesday, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister – and drone supremo – unveiled a new USV called Katran ('Shark') on his official Telegram channel. This is a multipurpose vessel for attack and reconnaissance missions,
Demonstration of Ukrainian Magura drone boat in April 2024.
Katran (also known as Katran VENOM)is advertised as having a range in excess of 1,000 kilometers/ 600 miles and able to destroy targets on land, sea and air. Speed, powered by two waterjets, is estimated at 130 kph/ 80 mph. It communicates via secure satellite link and may also have considerable autonomy allowing it to operate in radio silence.
It carries its own electronic warfare system, probably designed to known down Russian FPVs previously used to attack drone boats. It also has decoy flares and smoke launchers.
Katran can be armed with miniguns, machine guns, surface-to-air missiles or torpedoes. This last addition makes Katran fulfilment of Tesla's dream.
Swedish Torped 47 lightweight torpedo supplied to Ukraine
We do not know what sort of torpedoes might be carried. But previously Sweden provided Ukraine with unspecified underwater weapons, possibly Torped 47 or SLWT guided torpedoes. These are modern guided torpedoes which can target submarines as well as surface ships. The Torped 47 weighs some 340 kg/ 750 pounds, of which 50 kg/110 pounds is the warhead, and has a range of more than 20 km / 12 miles.
Such weapons are expensive and in short supply. But for the first time USVs can carry out long-range attacks against Russian warships with a high probability of success,
'Literally everything about this vehicle is impressive,' notes Ukrainian magazine Defense Express reviewing the new release.
Russian bloggers reported sightings of a Ukrainian torpedo-armed USV earlier this month, but this had not previously been confirmed. The Katran was developed in association with the Ukraine's Brave1 technology accelerator, which assists the development of defense systems and has been a great driver of innovations in the drone world.
The very existence of Katran makes defending against USVs far more challenging. Ukraine operates a mixed fleet of drone boats, and an attacking flotilla could include low-cost expendable USVs carrying explosives, others with missiles, and others with torpedoes, while still others might be carriers with FPVs.
Previously, a standard tactic was to send out helicopters to destroy the drone boats at long distance. However, if some of the USVs have surface-to-air missiles the helicopters may be flying into a trap. The Katran's machine-gun also seems to be on a high-angle mount to engage helicopters.
The alternative is letting the drone boats get loser and destroying them with machine guns or cannon fire. That may be effective against boats which need to run into a vessel, but torpedoes change the equation. A Russian vessel which allows drone boats to get within ten miles of it risks being sunk without warning.
Tesla's 1898 radio-controlled boat
And while it takes years to build a warship, Ukraine's drone fleet is growing by the week, both in size and in sophistication. It appears to be evolving much faster than the countermeasures to stop it, which may have a dramatic effect on seapower.
'I have no desire that my fame should rest on the invention of a merely destructive device, no matter how terrible,' Tesla told reporters when he showed off his drone boat in 1898. 'I prefer to be remembered as the inventor who succeeded in abolishing war.'
The second part still looks some way off, though a fleet of drones may be an effective asymmetric way of discouraging aggression for Ukraine, Taiwan and other nations threatened by large, more powerful neighbors.
But in the near term, the Katran and other USVs may started a serious debate on whether crewed warships are likely to become 'no more use than so much scrap iron.'