Xena Fellina (@funkyflan.bsky.social)

Ukrainian military achieves world’s first sea-based drone interception of Russian ‘Shahed’ UAV Ukraine’s Defense Forces have intercepted a Russian “Shahed” drone using an interceptor UAV launched from a surface maritime platform—a world first. The unprecedented operation was carried out by the 412th Nemesis Brigade, part of the Unmanned Systems Forces (USF). According to the USF, this marks the first-ever successful interception of an attack UAV using an interceptor drone deployed from a maritime platform. Video of the operation was published April 19 on the official USF Facebook page . “This is a new level of integration between maritime and aerial unmanned capabilities. Employing surface platforms to launch interceptor drones adds an extra layer of protection for Ukrainian cities,” officials with the USF said. Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, also commented on the significance of the breakthrough. “The USF is deploying at sea with unmanned surface platforms carrying interceptor drones to hunt ‘Shaheds’ and other aerial targets… The skies will be cleaner,” he said. Brovdi noted that these platforms would operate on “open waters.” “The first successful interceptions were achieved by the unmanned surface systems battalion of the 412th USF Nemesis Brigade. A similar, newly created battalion is currently being deployed with the 414th USF Brigade,” Brovdi added. https://www.uawire.org/ukrainian-military-achieves-world-s-first-sea-based-drone-interception-of-russian-shahed-uav