Ukraine’s Torpedo-Armed “Shark” Is the Black Sea’s New Apex Predator

Ukrainian innovation and Sweden's Saab torpedoes? Russia's got a shark problem.

Courtesy AFU

In a war increasingly shaped by autonomous systems, Ukraine just pulled the pin on another game-changer: the Katran.

Developed by Military Armored Company HUB under the Brave1 defense tech initiative, this sleek new naval drone isn’t just a response to Russian aggression—it’s a signal that Ukraine is building its own future of warfare.

This week, Ukraine officially introduced Katran, a new uncrewed surface vessel (USV) nicknamed “Shark.” And this isn’t just another explosive-laden speedboat. Katran carries Swedish-made guided torpedoes, giving Ukraine the ability to sink ships from dozens of kilometers away—without risking a single sailor.

In Ukrainian, “Katran” is translated as “spiny dogfish,” a small species of shark.

And yes, that is a MINIGUN on the bow! This instantly makes me think of the GAU-8/A Avenger autocannon on the front of the A-10 Warthog.

Yep. Ukraine just built an A-10 for the water. Granted, the Katran’s gun is likely much smaller than the GAU-8/A.

But here’s the big headline: This isn’t a mockup. This is hunting for Russians in the Black Sea right now.

Let’s talk about the machine, the mission, and what this means for the future of sea power in the Black Sea and beyond.

Katran: A Warbot with Teeth

At first glance, the Katran looks like a high-end speedboat with a mean attitude. But under the hood, it’s nothing short of a fully autonomous, multi-domain weapons platform—one that just happens to float.

And unlike its one-way, explosive-laden cousins, Katran isn’t here to die for the mission. It’s here to complete it and head back for more.

Officially unveiled by Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov—who’s become something of a tech general in this war—the Katran is the product of Ukraine’s drone industrial base maturing at warp speed.

It’s the next evolutionary step in Ukraine’s uncrewed surface fleet. Unlike the disposable "Sea Baby" or jet-ski-style kamikaze drones, Katran is designed to stay in the fight, operate in swarms or solo, and carry a mix of lethal payloads.

Its range is reported to exceed 1,000 kilometers—over 600 miles—meaning it can be launched from virtually anywhere on the Ukrainian coast and reach targets deep inside Russian naval territory or even hit targets in the eastern Black Sea and return.

This kind of standoff range gives Ukraine operational flexibility that even some crewed vessels can’t match.

Despite its size and range, Katran is anything but sluggish. With twin waterjets pushing it to speeds of 130 kilometers per hour (around 80 mph), it can outrun most patrol boats, dodge incoming fire, and reposition in minutes. This kind of velocity also adds to its survivability—speed is armor in the drone age.

When it comes to communications, Katran isn’t relying on line-of-sight links or low-bandwidth battlefield radios.

Instead, it uses a secure satellite uplink for command and control, meaning it can be operated from hundreds—or even thousands—of kilometers away. Critically, it’s believed to feature a high level of onboard autonomy, allowing it to continue its mission even in total radio silence.

That’s a direct response to Russia’s heavy investment in electronic warfare. You can jam a signal, but you can’t jam a drone that doesn’t need to talk.

Katran is also designed to survive hostile contact, not just evade it. It features its own electronic warfare system to counter incoming FPV drones—Russia’s go-to weapon for disabling drone boats mid-mission.

It also deploys smoke launchers and decoy flares, giving it the ability to spoof heat-seeking and visual targeting systems. That’s a first in the naval drone category—most USVs are naked and expendable. Katran is protected and persistent.

And then there’s the payload. Katran is built with a modular weapons bay that can carry an array of offensive options. It can be equipped with heavy machine guns, mini-guns, surface-to-air missiles, and—most importantly—torpedoes.

We’ll get to the Swedish torpedoes in the next section, but the short version is: Katran doesn’t need to kamikaze into a ship. It can stand off, launch a modern guided torpedo, and vanish back into the fog of war.

This is not your average drone boat. It’s a multi-role warbot—a high-speed, low-signature, low-risk assassin that redefines naval risk calculus in contested waters. For Ukraine, it’s a leap forward. For Russia, it’s a nightmare with a dorsal fin.

Swedish Torpedoes: The Underwater Equalizer

For all the flash of speed and autonomy, Katran’s most dangerous feature is silent, invisible, and capable of punching a hole through a warship’s hull from miles away. We’re talking about Swedish torpedoes, likely variants of the Torped 47 or its export cousin, the Saab Lightweight Torpedo (SLWT)—modern sub-surface killers built for 21st-century naval warfare.

While Ukraine hasn’t officially confirmed the exact model, Sweden previously supplied Kyiv with unspecified underwater weapons. And based on Katran’s size, role, and the Swedish-Ukrainian defense relationship, it’s a safe bet we’re looking at a Western-standard lightweight torpedo like the Torped 47.

Also, can we just pause and appreciate that Saab has been dropping tech announcements like crazy lately? As a military tech writer, I can say that Saab has enjoyed a significant portion of coverage by me, both here and on my YouTube channel. Maybe I can snag an interview with their CTO Petter Bedoire, to talk about military innovations? Call me, Petter! Let’s do lunch.

This torpedoe is not some Cold War relic dragged out of storage—it’s a precision-guided weapon designed for modern maritime threats, including both submarines and surface vessels.

Each torpedo weighs in at approximately 340 kilograms, or about 750 pounds. That mass includes a 50-kilogram (110-pound) high-explosive warhead, more than enough to cripple or outright sink a patrol craft, corvette, or support vessel.

For reference, that’s roughly the same warhead size used in air-launched anti-tank missiles like the AGM-114 Hellfire—except this one travels underwater and hits below the waterline, where ships are most vulnerable.

The SLWT export version. Courtesy Navy Recognition.

In terms of reach, the Torped 47 has a standoff range exceeding 20 kilometers, or about 12.5 miles. That means a Katran can fire from well beyond visual range, outside the envelope of most shipboard autocannons, and in many cases, before the target even knows it’s being hunted.

Paired with Katran’s speed and low radar cross-section, this gives Ukraine a torpedo sniper that can strike from the shadows and disappear before the enemy can react.

But what really sets these Swedish torpedoes apart is their smart guidance system. They use both active and passive sonar to track targets, meaning they can home in on engine noise, propeller cavitation, or specific sonar returns. They can be pre-programmed with attack patterns, depth settings, and fallback protocols.

If they lose a target, they can reacquire. If the target deploys countermeasures, the torpedo can adjust course in real time. This isn’t just a fire-and-forget weapon—it’s a thinking weapon, and it’s built for multi-domain conflict.

This matters in the Black Sea, where surface clutter, shallow waters, and ECM saturation are the norm. Russian ships that once felt safe behind layers of air defense and sonar nets now face a weapon that skips the surface battle entirely and goes straight for the keel.

And because these torpedoes are launched from USVs instead of submarines or manned platforms, they come with zero risk to human crews and are deployed from a fraction of the logistical footprint.

There’s also the economic calculus. Torpedoes like these are expensive, no question. But in asymmetric warfare, cost-per-kill matters more than sticker price. Taking out a $40 million patrol vessel with a $1 million drone-torpedo combo?

That’s good math.

Especially when the warship takes two to four years to replace, and the Katran that launched the shot can be rebuilt in a week.

Bottom line: These Swedish torpedoes give Ukraine something few nations have—an unmanned, long-range, undersea strike capability that challenges traditional sea power and forces adversaries to rethink everything about coastal operations, convoy protection, and high-value asset movement. They're not just underwater explosives. They’re underwater veto power.

Ukraine’s Magura V5 shows the staggering ingenuity of its engineers. Courtesy AFU

Tactical Implications: The Black Sea Just Got a Lot Deadlier

With the arrival of the Katran USV, the Black Sea theater has officially entered a new phase of maritime warfare—one where small, fast, autonomous vessels can shape sea control more effectively than aging warships ever could.

Let’s be blunt: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is no longer just fighting Ukrainian missiles and aerial drones—it’s now facing swarms of stealthy, AI-enabled naval kamikazes with serious range and increasingly potent armament, including torpedoes. This changes the entire risk calculus for any Russian vessel that dares operate within 500 kilometers of Ukrainian waters.

Where previous USVs were mostly one-way ticket bomb boats—meant to ram and detonate—Katran represents a shift toward multi-use, persistent maritime platforms. It can launch reconnaissance drones, jam enemy communications, spoof radar, fire surface-to-air missiles at helicopters, and now—with Swedish torpedoes—strike from stand-off ranges without ever crossing the line of return.

This forces the Russian Navy to do something it’s been increasingly bad at: adapt.

Convoys now require layered defense, not just against submarines, but against surface-level ghosts moving 80 mph with radar signatures smaller than a Zodiac boat. Ships must now patrol with drone countermeasures on high alert at all times. Any hesitation in threat identification could result in a $250 million warship sinking to the seafloor before it even raises general quarters.

Then there’s the psychological factor. Every fast-moving object near a Russian patrol zone now could be a Katran. Every shadow on the water could carry a 340-kilogram torpedo. This kind of operational ambiguity slows decision-making, forces over-cautious ROEs, and bleeds morale. It’s naval exhaustion by a thousand radar pings.

And it’s not just ships that need to worry. Russia’s coastal facilities—SAM sites, radar dishes, jamming towers—are all suddenly vulnerable to low-profile drone boat strikes from dozens of kilometers offshore. Ukraine doesn’t need to own the water anymore; it just needs to make Russia afraid of it.

The Black Sea was once a Russian-dominated strategic zone. Now, it’s an increasingly hostile, unpredictable battlespace, where the surface is crawling with autonomous sharks, and every warship is just one missed ping away from becoming salvage.

Katran didn’t just make Ukraine stronger—it made the Black Sea smaller, tighter, and infinitely more dangerous.

The Death of the Capital Ship?

Here’s where it gets philosophical—and slightly terrifying.

The Katran isn’t just a weapon. It’s a doctrine disruptor. It challenges the entire premise of surface naval warfare. Why build a billion-dollar destroyer when your enemy can build a $250,000 torpedo drone that outpaces and outmaneuvers you, then sinks you from 12 miles away?

This is asymmetric warfare at sea. And it’s accelerating.

The Russians have to choose between risking expensive crewed ships within range of Katran strikes or ceding sea control entirely.

There is no good option. And as these drones multiply—fast, cheap, constantly iterated—the pace of innovation outstrips the pace of countermeasure development. The kill chain is evolving faster than the defense budget.

It’s the same story we’ve seen with kamikaze FPV drones in the land war—only now it’s happening at sea, with far more expensive targets.

The debut of Katran is more than a technological milestone—it’s a strategic warning. Ukraine has figured out naval warfare’s future, and they’re building it in real time with help from countries like Sweden.

This isn’t about flashy tech demos or prototype hype. These drones are operational, fielded, and already reshaping the battlespace.

Ukraine is now the APEX Hunter in the Black Sea.

Слава Україні! Crimea is Ukraine.

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Hey friends, Wes here. Thanks for reading.

If you’re new here, I served in both the US Army and the US Air Force for a total of ten years on active duty. I have a degree in global security and speak bad Russian. I hate authoritarians, especially American ones, and I graduate from law school in two weeks!

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W