Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia's shipbuilding industry has largely been in an era of great regression. In the past 30 years, the Russian shipbuilding industry has basically not built any decent large and medium-sized surface combat ships, and the only thing that can be used is the Type 22350 frigate with a full load displacement of 5400 tons.
As for the façade of the Russian Navy, it has always been supported by some old ships left over from the Soviet era, such as the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great and the Glory-class cruiser. But it turns out that these old ships can no longer adapt to modern military operations without being modernized. Not long ago, the Russian Navy's guided-missile cruiser Moscow was easily sunk by two Neptune anti-ship missiles from Ukraine.
The move was not only a loss for the Black Sea Fleet, but also a heavy blow to the armed forces of the entire Russian Federation. But the Russian Navy does not seem to have learned its lesson. According to the latest reports of Ukrainian media, on May 2, local time, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released a video showing that the Ukrainian army used a TB2 drone to successfully destroy two Raptor-class rapid attack boats of the Russian Navy in the waters near Snake Island off the coast of Odessa.
The Ukrainian Navy's naval forces were largely destroyed within 48 hours of the start of the war, but Ukraine was still able to use drones and coastal missiles to counter the Russians. Judging from the images released by Ukraine, the two Russian Raptor rapid attack boats were one in a state of navigation and the other was stationary. Ukrainian drones sank small laser-guided bombs cleanly by dropping them.
The Raptor-class fast attack boat is about 17 meters long and about four meters wide, equipped with two 1150 horsepower diesel engines, can reach a maximum sea speed of 48 knots, and has a full load displacement of only 23 tons. The rapid attack boat has a remote-controlled weapons station equipped with a 14.5 mm heavy machine gun, and one of its highlights is that it can carry 20 soldiers and play the role of a small amphibious landing ship at a critical moment.
Although Ukraine destroyed no valuable target this time, it was undoubtedly another major blow to the confidence of the Russian Navy, and this completely exposed the huge shortcomings of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, that is, there was a great lack of regional air defense forces, and once the surface ships left the coverage of anti-aircraft fire to patrol, it was undoubtedly very dangerous.
At that time, the two Raptor-class fast attack boats were located very far from the Crimean Peninsula, even the closest place was 182 kilometers. That distance is far beyond the cover of Russian anti-aircraft fire deployed ashore on the Crimean Peninsula. Although Russia has deployed at least four S400 air defense system battalions on the Crimean Peninsula, the S400 interceptor with the longest range can only achieve a maximum range of 400 kilometers at an altitude.
Once the TB2 drone used by Ukraine lowers the altitude to less than 1.5 kilometers, it can perfectly evade the search of the Russian S400 fire control radar on the Crimean Peninsula. In addition, at present, the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet can use very few anti-aircraft warships, only three Type 11356 frigates, and the maximum range of the 9M317ME anti-aircraft missiles equipped on them is only 50 kilometers. Once the small ships of the Russian Navy are out of the cover of the anti-aircraft missile, it is normal for them to be easily hunted by Ukrainian drones.
It is worth mentioning that the TB2 UAV used in Ukraine this time is only a model-level product in the eyes of the UAV powers of this level in China and the United States, and its maximum load capacity does not exceed 150 kg. Therefore, it is conceivable how small the weight of the missile warhead used by Ukrainian drones is.
But even this was able to inflict heavy losses on the Russian Navy and tank armored vehicles. It turns out that the Russian military not only lacks air defense capabilities at sea, but also does not dare to compliment land air defense capabilities, they are very lacking in field air defense systems, so they are simply helpless in the face of harassment and air raids by Ukrainian drones.