Which New Ukrainian Naval Drones Could Have Struck a Large Amount of russian Equipment in Occupied Crimea? | Defense Express (2025)

Not long ago, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine released astonishing footage of a series of strikes on russian equipment in occupied Crimea. A significant portion of the destroyed targets consisted of various air defense systems, including:

• Pantsir-S1 (3 units)
• 39N6 Kasta 2E2 (3 units)
• 48Ya6-K1 Podlet (2 units)
• 1L125 Niobium-SV (2 units)
• 9S19 Ginger
• Nebo-SV
• S-300VM
• Nebo-M
• 59N6-E Opponent-GE
• BRLS Mys
• Radar ST-68
• Mi-8 helicopter
• Project S4236 transport-towing vessel
• Universal tugboat Fedor Uryupin

The list is impressive, but it raises a logical question—what could have carried out such strikes? One possible answer is the new Ukrainian naval drone Katran X1. Recently, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced that a similar naval drone, Katran VENOM, has not only been successfully developed but is already being actively used in combat.

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The Katran X1 is being developed by Military Armored Company HUB, a participant in the Brave1 platform. According to the company’s website, the Katran X1 has a range of 1,200 km, a maximum speed of 105 km/h, and a cruising speed of 60 km/h, powered by a single engine. It is equipped with a Starlink satellite communication antenna, a daytime camera, and a thermal imaging camera.

The Katran X1 can carry 10-inch FPV drones and Osa fixed-wing drones. The FPV drones are stored in containers at the rear of the Katran X1, with a total capacity of four units.

It is also worth recalling the Ukrainian Navy’s video from December 2024, which showed an attack on captured gas platforms near the Crimean coast.

The footage revealed the use of FPV drones launched from an unidentified naval drone, which likely served not only as a carrier but also as a signal relay platform. Additionally, a public image of the Katran X1 with FPV drone containers should be referenced.

However, in the video published by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, the drone exhibited flight behavior atypical of an FPV drone, resembling instead a small fixed-wing kamikaze drone. Such UAVs typically have a limited strike range, which would not have been sufficient to reach occupied Crimea.

This is why the Osa fixed-wing drone for the Katran X1 is of particular interest. The developer lists its specifications as follows: a strike range of up to 40 km, a warhead weight of 2 kg, a takeoff weight of 3.8 kg, a cruising speed of 80–90 km/h, and a flight duration of up to 40 minutes. The Osa drones are stored in a launcher with a capacity of four units, and their launch is likely catapult-assisted.

Thus, a logical assumption is that small UAVs were launched from naval boats, making the new Katran X1 drones a plausible option. However, it is also possible that entirely different systems were used in the strikes on russian targets, both in terms of delivery platforms and the drones themselves.

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