Ukraine’s Drone Boats Are Now Launching FPVs And Thermobaric Rockets

BusinessAerospace & DefenseUkraine’s Drone Boats Are Now Launching FPVs And Thermobaric RocketsByDavid Kirichenko,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Kirichenko is a journalist focusing on war and technology.Follow AuthorMay 26, 2026, 08:50am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Image captured from video posted on social media by a Russian Telegram channel of a Ukrainian unmanned surface vessel reportedly carrying FPV drones and thermobaric rocket launchers.Social Media CaptureUkraine’s naval drones are evolving again.Around the Kinburn Spit, a narrow strip of Russian-held Mykolaiv Oblast that juts into the Black Sea near the mouth of the Dnipro River, Ukrainian unmanned surface vessels appear to be adding another role: floating platforms able to release first-person-view drones, fire thermobaric rockets and strike targets along the coast.For much of the war, Ukraine and Russia have been locked in a constant technological race on land and in the air. A similar adaptation cycle has been unfolding in the Black Sea, where Ukrainian drone boats have already carried missiles and launched FPVs, and now appear to be combining drones with thermobaric rocket fire.From Kamikaze Boats To Floating Launch PlatformsAccording to the Russian Telegram channel “Archangel of Special Forces,” which has more than a million subscribers, Ukraine is using USVs carrying both first-person-view (FPV) drones and Shmel thermobaric rocket launchers to strike Russian positions around Kinburn.The pro-war Telegram channel claimed the drone boats carry six to eight FPV drones inside onboard launch compartments that open during an attack. The same vessels were reportedly fitted with thermobaric Shmel rocket launchers capable of blasting entrenched positions along the shoreline.Russian forces captured the Kinburn Spit at the start of the full-scale invasion in Fe...