America’s “sea demons”: The biggest threat to Russian warships?

In recent months, America has provided the Ukrainian army with the most modern weapons, including new vehicles that are only in the process of testing, which even the US military does not have.

One of them is the miniature unmanned stealth boats MANTAS T-12, nicknamed “sea devil”. According to the US website FedScoop, to control these floating robots weighing only 95 kg, a group of Ukrainian servicemen was trained at the US Navy Base Little Creek, Virginia.

The arrival of MANTAS T-12 in the Black Sea in the Odessa region will certainly bring new tension to the disturbing events taking place around Snake Island and also in the entire northwestern part of the region.

What kind of weapon is the MANTAS T-12?

Rear Admiral John Kirby, special envoy to the Pentagon, said: The US developed the MANTAS T-12 as part of a “Ghost Fleet” program created to help Ukraine coastal defense operations.

According to the US Department of Defense’s fact sheet, in the next $800 million aid package to Ukraine, an unspecified number of “unmanned coastal defense ships” are being supplied to Ukraine. Like most unmanned stealth surface boats in general, they are designed for reconnaissance (ISR), against surface targets, and to clear mines and mines.

The MANTAS T-12 is the latest model in the water surface robot series. Because to ensure the ability to swim stealthily, the body of the unmanned boat with a total length of 3.6 meters and a width of 0.9 meters only protrudes 18 centimeters from the sea surface during movement. However, it can go at speeds of up to 40 knots. The operating range is up to 120 nautical miles.

Obviously, the rather modest size does not allow the “sea demon” to be loaded with many weapons. The entire tonnage is estimated at only 63.5 kg.

The boat has a miniature sonar capable of detecting both mines and submarines. There are also magnetometers that serve the same purpose.

In principle, the US is currently trying to adapt to be able to equip unmanned surface boats with small missiles that can hit targets at sea and in the air. It is a small supersonic anti-aircraft missile SM-6 with active positioning system (GOS AIM-120) in the final stage of flight, which was successfully tested on June 24, 2008 at the White Sands shooting range. .

The cost was $4.3 million each. Flight range is about 240 km. On January 18, 2016, an SM-6 missile launched from an unmanned surface boat sank the decommissioned US frigate USS Reuben James during an exercise.

All of this looks quite threatening to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. But SM-6 is only for completely different unmanned boats, much larger than the “sea devils” that the US has promised to provide Kiev.

Brian Clark, director of the Center for Defense Technology at the Hudson Institute, said: “The unmanned surface boats sent to Ukraine are for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations, as well as for the purposes of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations. to deal with landmines. But he added: “I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukraine, using them, would think of a way to attach a deadly warhead to them.”

Mr. Clark continued: “After receiving these unmanned boats, the Ukrainians will be able to equip them as they wish. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukraine could put in there some weapons systems in case they want to use them to attack Russian ships.”

Undoubtedly, the US and Ukraine are preparing equipment for this MANTAS T-12. There will be no hydroacoustic stations with magnetometers because Kiev will not need them, neither in Odessa nor on Snake Island.

What will Russia do to deal with this risk?

With a potential speed of 40 knots, it would be difficult for any Russian surface ship to escape such an attack. The only way to fight back is to use old RBU-6000 jet bombers and the slightly more advanced RPK-8 “Zapad” anti-submarine missile systems, which form the basis of defense against submarines of the frigates “Admiral Essen” and “Admiral Makarov” in the Black Sea. This is currently the active force in these areas.

However, in order to succeed in the self-defense of such a ship, one condition is required: the dynamics of the attack of the “sea devils” must be taken into account, sound and radiation meters are not allowed. “overslept”. If the commander of the ship Russia not confident in this, will have to stay away from the place where there is a possibility of dropping the MANTAS T-12 into the sea. Not closer than 60 nautical miles. Meanwhile, the distance from Snake Island, where a serious dispute is taking place, to the Ukrainian coast is only about 15 nautical miles. Of course, that would make it more difficult for the soldier defending the island in combat.

And the US will pay close attention to see how after the delivery of their stealthy unmanned surface boat to Ukraine, the military situation near the country’s coast will play out. In essence, this is a continuation of the process of testing promising US weapons in combat conditions.

Brent Sadler, senior fellow for the Navy and Advanced Technology at the American Heritage Foundation, was candid about this. “This is what allows us to better understand how we ourselves can use these systems in combat,” he stated. So we are also learning. And we can benefit from the combat experience that the Ukrainians get through the use of this equipment.”