Ukrainian Barracuda unmanned boat launches FPV drone strike on Russian vessel in Dnieper.

Ukraine’s 40th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade has unveiled a new tactic using its home-built Barracuda unmanned boat to deploy FPV drones against a Russian transport ship. The method boosts strike range and survivability for Ukrainian forces operating in contested river zones.

The Ukrainian 40th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade released on social media on October 20, 2025, a video showing the unit’s Barracuda unmanned boat ferrying several FPV drones into striking distance of a Russian transport vessel, enabling a rapid attack without exposing Ukrainian sailors. In the brigade’s words, the operation was quick and risk-free for Ukrainian fighters, with Russian personnel and ammunition destroyed. Video released by the unit shows the FPVs lifting off from the Barracuda’s deck and homing in on the target. This tactic effectively extends range and compresses reaction time for defenders at sea. The brigade did not specify the location, but the unit has been active across the Dnipro delta and coastal waterways.
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Ukrainian Marines’ Barracuda unmanned surface vessel, developed by the 40th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade, has successfully deployed FPV drones to destroy a Russian transport ship (Picture source: Ukraine 40th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade).

The Barracuda is a home-built unmanned surface vessel created within the 40th Brigade by a dedicated “Barracuda” special unit. Ukrainian officials and unit materials describe a modular craft with remote control, modern tracking suites, and elements of artificial intelligence that automate navigation through narrow channels and reeds while assisting target detection and route planning. The hull is optimized for riverine and littoral work and can be reconfigured for fire support, cargo delivery, evacuation or minelaying. Earlier official videos showed variants carrying single-shot grenade launchers and drop racks for mines, underlining a plug-and-play philosophy that lets crews tailor loadouts per mission without rebuilding the boat.

In recent reporting from the Dnipro front, operators told The Times the boat can reach roughly 95 kilometers per hour and carries electronic tools to interfere with hostile drone control links, a valuable edge against Russian quadcopters and first-person-view threats that hunt boats in daylight. The same reporting noted some British-sourced components and iterative design informed by frontline testing, a pattern seen across Kyiv’s naval drone programs. While Kyiv does not release full specifications, the emphasis on maneuverability, low profile, and electronic protection aligns with the craft’s riverine mission set.

The latest strike highlights Barracuda’s operational logic. By acting as a low-observable mother-ship for FPV drones, the USV can insert a swarm to knife-fighting range, masking launch signatures and cutting the drones’ transit time over open water. That reduces attrition to jamming and small-arms fire, and it complicates Russian early warning since the FPVs appear suddenly, already inside the defensive bubble. The brigade’s account of destroyed personnel and ammunition suggests the target boat was at least neutralized and likely rendered inoperable, an outcome achieved without putting a single Ukrainian crew at risk. The same unit has showcased precision attacks on Russian river craft in recent weeks, indicating a sustained campaign to attrit logistics and shuttle traffic on contested waterways.

Barracuda is another proof point in Ukraine’s continuous improvisation under pressure from a larger adversary. Since Moscow’s invasion, Kyiv has turned maritime robotics into an asymmetric lever, fielding fast USVs and now hybrid concepts that blend surface carriers with airborne munitions to erode Russian freedom of movement along rivers and near-shore zones. The 40th Brigade’s river war is about shaping terrain as much as sinking hulls, disrupting crossings, blocking resupply jetties, and imposing costs on any attempt to stage a lodgment on the islands. This is why the brigade underscores that modern technologies not only strike targets but also save lives by removing crews from the kill zone, a message that resonates with Ukraine’s broader push to industrialize unmanned warfare and keep pressure on Russian forces across the Black Sea and Dnipro basins.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.