Ukrainian personnel will be taught to use the autonomous minehunting vehicles by the Royal Navy and U.S. Navy over the coming months, say the Ministry of Defence.
The UK is giving six of the underwater drones to Ukraine and training its personnel here in Britain to use them so they can clear their coastline of mines when they return to their homeland.
The Ministry of Defence said in a news release:
“Six autonomous minehunting vehicles will be sent to the country to help detect Russian mines in the waters off its coast. Three of these will be provided from UK stocks, with a further three to be purchased from industry. The lightweight autonomous vehicle is designed for use in shallow coastal environments, operating effectively at depths of up to 100m to detect, locate and identify mines using an array of sensors so the Ukrainian Navy can destroy them.
Dozens of Ukrainian Navy personnel will be taught to use the drones over the coming months, with the first tranche having already begun their training. Russia has been weaponising food by destroying Ukrainian agriculture and blockading the country’s Black Sea ports to prevent exports, with devastating consequences for the world’s poorest people as food prices rise.”
Working with the U.S. Navy
The Royal Navy say here that, side-by-side with comrades from the US Navy, experts from the Diving & Threat Exploitation Group are teaching Ukrainians how to operate the devices, which search large areas of seabed for mines and unexploded ordnance without putting the operators in harm’s way.
“The Diving & Threat Exploitation Group is delivering three-week training courses, alongside the US Navy Sixth Fleet. The Royal Navy has considerable experience using the small tube-shaped sonar-equipped devices. The training involves launching and recovering the devices at sea, as well as interpretation of the data sent back to identify mock mines.”
Captain Ben Vickery Royal Navy, Captain of Royal Navy Diving and Mine Warfare, was quoted as saying that he was struck by the passion and commitment with which the Ukrainians had thrown themselves into learning.
“The Ukrainian personnel have been fantastic, and it is a pleasure to be working with them and helping them in their struggle to defend their homeland against the aggression they are currently suffering. These incredible, motivated and very professional sailors have thrown themselves into the task and have made incredible progress gaining an excellent level of proficiency. I am hugely proud of them, and the Royal Navy Clearance Divers and Mine Warfare specialists delivering the training, standing shoulder to shoulder – stronger together to achieve this vital training mission driven by our shared values and a common bond.”
The Royal Navy is also training Ukrainian sailors to operate Sandown-class minehunters
Ukrainian sailors are being trained onboard a Royal Navy Sandown Class Minehunter off the coast of Scotland.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said:
“The intensity with which the Ukrainian soldiers and sailors are training is something to behold. They work with the focus of troops who know they’ll be fighting in a war in just a few short weeks’ time. Delivering training that matches that intensity and focus is not straightforward. The Royal Navy and the British Army are working long hours and drawing on all their operational experience to make sure their new Ukrainian friends are sent into combat with the best chance of victory.”
Deputy Defence Minister Volodymyr Havrylov said:
“I saw the brotherhood of Ukrainian and British soldiers working together to achieve a common goal – strengthening the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian army. We are very grateful to the government and people of the United Kingdom for their invaluable contribution to Ukraine’s success in repelling the Russian aggressors.”
The Royal Navy is training Ukrainian sailors to operate the vessel after two of the class, HMS Blyth and HMS Ramsey, were sold to Ukraine prior to the invasion.
I watched a very interesting video earlier on about how Ukrainians hijacked a Russian drone (COTS) The thing is, the video was from the Russian team operating it,
The latest vid from Denys Davydov on YT has more info about the Russian unit involved and one of the individuals in the video in particular.
Thanks I saw that.
I watched that also. I would of thought the guy in the video would of been just the kind of person who russia went to Ukraine to find.
Its really good to see the support the U.K. is giving Ukraine. It’s so sad we are seeing the level of destruction we are in Ukraine, but in truth what we are seeing is just the normal outcome of the collapse of a multiethnic empire ( the fall of the USSR was always going to lead to a lot of dead people as the assholes went all out in the power vacum and ethic conflicts developed, these aways occurs) .
But in Ukraines case what we are now seeing in the destruction is the creation of a true multi ethnic county with a shared identity. In reality even before the invasion Ukraine was struggling its way out of the collapse of a multiethnic empire, this is aways hard as the nations left from these collapses of empires are always a patchwork of transplanted ethic groups. What Russia has Unintentionally created n invading Ukraine is a cohesive nation state and probably moved the cultural hardwiring of Ukraine as a nation along by a good generation or two.
In effect Russia has totally worked against its own goals, while at the same time destroying its own army and killing so many Ukrainian civilians. Putin has gone the same way as all unchecked dictators in the modern age…a delusional, destructive mass murder who in the end brings about the destruction What they were trying to build.
What is fascinating is that we have this kit to give them.
I do t think most people realised that RN actually had this stuff fully in service and presumable this isn’t the current generation either.
Agreed; additionally, presumably there will be an ongoing relationship wherein USN and RN can harvest any lessons learned from current op, specifically re potential newer tech Russian mines?
Presumably.
An area I can say I have no detailed knowledge about is mine hunting!!
The war in Ukraine is going to be studied and the lessons learned from it for decades to come. Equipment programmes and doctrines will be modified, scrapped and created by what is being learnt over there.
Hi Dave. What concerns me is the the Russians might actually take some lessons out of this, too, and eventually morph into a modern, coherent and more professional fighting force. Which should be a concern for NATO…
That’s likely but will need at least a decade of re organisation and re equipment but the rest of us will be doing the same. We have 2 advantages though. Regardless of the current issue with energy prices the west will be able to invest in the new tech required on a scale the Russian economy cannot hope to match. Plus huge amounts of Russian defence spending will continue to be siphoned off by the systemic corruption of the whole Russian state.
Agree, thanks.
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Unless there’s a major change of circumstances they ain’t going to be able to get those Sandowns into Ukrainian waters never mind keep them operational. They could be stuck here for quite some time.
Let’s hope the Russian’s aren’t able pinch any of these donated drones! And in the mean time hope we have enough for UK! I wonder if the T32s will be some sort if GP+MCM mothership type frigate or if there will be an actual post Sandown type class like the BMT Venari 85 employed by the RN? I guess if fully autonomous then any surface vessel can command and control this type of equipment.