A small boat believed to be part of the Global Sumud Flotilla that was carrying aid for Gaza has washed ashore in Alexandria, Egypt. Activists were intercepted and detained by Israeli forces in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea last week.
Published On 25 May 202625 May 2026
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The TWZ Newsletter
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
A recent development in the Black Sea drone war has seen a Russian Navy patrol boat appear with a screen, commonly known as a “cope cage,” on top of its superstructure to help protect against drones. Whether the modification is a one-off or part of a broader plan, it emphasizes the growing ubiquity of drone threats, a reality that the U.S. Navy is also increasingly having to contend with.
Two photos showing Russian Navy Project 21980 Grachonok class patrol boats underway in the Black Sea were published by Ukrainian defense adviser Serhii Sternenko. The photos were reportedly taken this month, but it’s not clear if they show the same vessel (in one photo, the Russian Navy flag is flying from a mast, and in the other, it is not).
This may well be the first instance of this kind of add-on protection, which is now routinely used by both sides of the conflict in Ukraine on tanks and other fighting vehicles, being installed on a surface vessel. However, as we reported in the past, a cope cage has also appeared on at least one Russian Navy ballistic missile submarine, the Tula.
The Project 21980 vessel is described by Russia as a multi-purpose anti-saboteur boat. Primarily designed to protect ports and other naval installations, they are used by the Russian Navy as well as the Border Service. Around 30 of the vessels have been completed since 2008.
According to Ukrainian sources, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet operates nine Project 21980 boats, while another four are assigned to the Border Service.
Displacing around 150 tons, the Project 21980 is a little over 100 feet long and can be armed with a 14.5 mm machine gun, anti-sabotage grenade launchers, and an Igla-series man-portable air defense system (MANPADS). Ironically, the Russian media has, in the past, heralded the success of the Grachonok class during exercises in which the vessel was used to detect and destroy uncrewed aerial vehicles (as well as uncrewed surface vessels and other small-sized surface targets).
The cope cage covers most of the surface area of the vessel, with three distinct levels: a first section protecting the area above the stern; a second section mounted above the bridge and projecting aft of it, but below the antenna array; and a third section aft of the main superstructure. The sides of the vessel appear entirely unprotected; this may well be to allow normal operations such as docking. Furthermore, access here is required to operate the weapons, as well as the rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) that is typically stowed at the stern, and which is deployed and recovered by crane.
Considering the normal mounting of the machine gun on the bow and the grenade launchers firing aft from the rear of the superstructure, it’s not clear how these weapons function after the cope cage is fitted. At the very least, the additional protection screens would appear to significantly reduce their fields of fire, limiting them to a very depressed trajectory.
Moreover, while the cope cage provides a degree of overhead protection against drone-delivered munitions, it can be easily seen how a skilled drone operator would be able to find a gap in the protection. FPV drones, in particular, are highly maneuverable and have already demonstrated their ability to penetrate inside armored vehicles through open hatches and into buildings through whatever openings might be available. In this case, flying a drone around the static cope cages would not appear to be too difficult.
At the same time, the protection doesn’t address the threat posed by uncrewed surface vessels (USVs, ‘drone boats’) and uncrewed underwater vessels (UUVs) that have repeatedly been used to attack Russian targets in and around the Black Sea.
The threat of Ukrainian naval drones was most recently underscored in an incident on the night of April 30, when, according to reports, a Border Service PSKA-300 class patrol boat was struck, close to the Kerch Bridge. A photograph subsequently published on a Telegram channel showed a memorial plaque indicating that nine members of the Russian crew were killed in the strike. Ukrainian reports suggest that, as well as the PSKA-300, a Project 21980 Grachonok class patrol boat was also hit in the same raid.
🚨⚓ BREAKING: Ukrainian Navy struck Russian patrol boats guarding the Kerch Bridge overnight on April 30.
A Sobol patrol boat of the FSB Border Service and a Grachonok anti-sabotage boat were hit in the Kerch Strait area. https://t.co/dEFbWvQM8M pic.twitter.com/0Ib1M3rbyG
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) April 30, 2026
The PSKA-300 and Project 21980 are both regularly used to patrol the waters around the Kerch Bridge, linking mainland Russia with occupied Crimea, which is a regular target of Ukrainian strikes.
At the same time, equipping surface vessels with these kinds of add-on protection is a logical extension of the drone war. Russian forces began installing top protection on their tanks in the build-up to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Armor of this type has since become a common feature on Russian and Ukrainian tanks and other armored vehicles, primarily as a defense against FPV and other types of weaponized commercial drones.
As the war has progressed, the threat of Ukrainian aerial drones has been extended into the Black Sea.
Last summer, we reported on how Ukraine had begun using so-called bomber drones launched from USVs to attack targets in Crimea. The occupied peninsula is especially target-rich, hosting high-value Russian radar and air defense systems, as well as military aircraft. In that context, Ukraine using similar weapons to target Russian surface vessels in the Black Sea should come as no surprise.
Bomber drones launched from drone boats offer various advantages. They give Ukrainian operators the ability to strike more than one target per drone with heavier warheads than typical FPV drones usually carry. They can also travel farther while maintaining their connection, as they don’t have to dive to the ground to hit their targets. As we have reported in the past, Ukraine also has bomber drones that can launch guided munitions with a heavier punch. All of these would offer a significant threat to Russian vessels in the Black Sea.
Already, Ukrainian actions have effectively forced the Black Sea Fleet to vacate Crimea and instead operate from Novorossiysk, although this hasn’t removed the Ukrainian threat entirely.
As well as heavier and more capable bomber drones, Ukrainian drone boats are also increasingly being used as platforms for launching FPV drones. Back in 2024, the first evidence emerged that Ukraine was using a capability like this, with aerial drones being launched from USVs as part of its campaign of attacks on Russian offshore platforms.
Meanwhile, it was reported recently that the HX-2 strike drone, from German manufacturer Helsing, has been adapted for launch from small boats. The company states that the HX-2s feature standoff range and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled capabilities that make them resistant to electronic warfare systems, and can be employed in networked swarms.
🇩🇪 German HX-2 strike drone, which is used by 🇺🇦Ukraine, has been adapted for deployment from boats, – Militarnyi
Helsing reported that it successfully conducted the first launch of the drone from a coastal vessel. pic.twitter.com/PAujJE2Wd5
— MAKS 25 🇺🇦👀 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) May 11, 2026
Further proliferation of FPV drones and new missions for these types include a growing emphasis on using them in a coastal defense capacity. Here, again, patrol boats like the Project 21980 would be exposed to additional threats.
Overall, questions remain about how effective the drone protection on the Project 21980 patrol boat might be in practice. However, the emergence of the fixture again underscores Russia’s concerns about the dangers posed by Ukrainian weaponized drones. This is a threat that is now very real across all domains and one that is steadily growing worldwide.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
May 9 (UPI) — Multiple injuries were reported Saturday in what rescuers called a “mass casualty” event involving a possible boat explosion at a popular Miami sandbar.
First responders to the scene of a possible boat explosion at around 12:45 p.m. “found multiple patients with various injuries, some burned, some minor injuries,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Juan Arias told reporters.
“All patients were treated and transported to local hospitals,” he said, adding that the incident was designated as a “level 2 mass casualty incident, which gives us the sufficient amount of units on scene to go ahead and deal with the number of patients that we had.”
Arias said the injuries were from burns and that some victims suffered “traumatic” injuries.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission personnel also responded to the scene at Haulover Sandbar, a favorite party cruise spot for tourists located in Biscayne Bay north of Bal Harbour, Fla.
Arias did not specify how many people were injured in the incident, but multiple media reports quoted rescuers as saying 11 people were taken to area hospitals.
Witnesses said the injuries were caused by an explosion aboard a boat which knocked several people overboard and left them with burns.
A marina worker told WTVJ-TV the explosion was caused by a gas leak that happened when the boat’s captain turned on the ignition. Another person who was aboard the boat told the broadcaster there were 14 people on the vessel before the explosion.
An investigation into the incident was continuing into Saturday night.
April 27 (UPI) — The U.S. military has killed another three men in its latest attack targeting suspected drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific, U.S. Southern Command announced late Sunday.
It was the 54th strike in the Trump administration’s violent anti-drug smuggling campaign that has killed at least 185 people since early September, according to UPI’s tally of publicly released data. At least 57 boats have been destroyed in the attacks in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.
SOUTHCOM has announced each strike on social media, accompanied by a short black-and-white aerial video of the attack, showing the boat erupting in flames.
On April 26, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/br2znnUM1x— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) April 27, 2026
As with the previous strikes, SOUTHCOM said in a statement that the boat it attacked Sunday “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”
The Trump administration claims the vessels are operated by 10 drug cartels and gangs that President Donald Trump has designated as terrorist organizations since returning to office, but has yet to provide evidence.
Trump argues the use of deadly force is warranted as the United States is in “armed conflict” with those organizations, but his administration has come under mounting accusations of conducting extrajudicial killings.
The strikes have been repeatedly condemned and their legality questioned by Democrats and human rights organizations, who accuse the Trump administration of violating international and maritime law by using the military to conduct law enforcement drug operations.
Ben Saul, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, chastised the Trump administration last month for “responding with lawless violence that flagrantly violates human rights, in its phony war on so-called narco-terrorism.”
The attacks are not permissible law enforcement action in self-defense, authorized under the law of the sea, in national self-defense or under international humanitarian law, he said.
On Thursday, 125 humanitarian, human rights, peacebuilding and other related organizations from around the world called on all states to “immediately cease or refrain from supporting U.S. extrajudicial killings.”
The letter warned that states could be held legally responsible for aiding or assisting the United States by sharing intelligence as well as providing access to military bases and logistical support with the U.S. military.
The groups argue that the consequences of these killings are being felt throughout the hemisphere.
“Families awaiting the return of their loved ones may never know what happened to them and have no access to recourse,” the organizations said in their open letter.
“Coastal communities have witnessed human remains washing up on shore and fear for their lives when they trade and fish, sowing psychological trauma and undermining livelihoods.”
April 20 (UPI) — The U.S. military announced late Sunday that it has killed three men in its latest strike targeting a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean.
Seventeen people have been killed in six strikes the U.S. Southern Command has carried out in little over a week, marking one of the deadliest publicly announced stretches of the Trump administration’s monthslong anti-drug smuggling operation.
As in previous strike announcements, SOUTHCOM released little information.
The attack occurred Sunday, targeting a boat operated by a designated terrorist organization in the Caribbean, SOUTHCOM said in a statement, without naming the organization or providing evidence.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” it said.
A 12-second, black-and-white clip of the strike posted to SOUTHCOM’s social media shows a boat moving across the ocean before disappearing in a large fiery explosion.
On April 19, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/yMtPhXBdNn— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) April 20, 2026
Since the first strike on Sept. 2, the U.S. military has killed at least 180 people, according to UPI’s tally of publicly released data. Fifty-five boats have been destroyed in the more than 50 strikes.
President Donald Trump argues that the use of deadly military force is warranted as the United States is in “armed conflict” with the 10 drug cartels and gangs he has designated as terrorist organizations since returning to the White House in January 2025.
The operation comes as the Trump administration seeks to expand its influence in the Western Hemisphere, including by using its military to dismantle what Trump has called “narco-terrorist networks.”
The strikes have been repeatedly condemned and their legality questioned by Democrats, rights groups, critics and United Nations experts, who accuse the Trump administration of violating international and maritime law over the use of the military to conduct law enforcement drug operations.
Last month, Ben Saul, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, lambasted the Trump administration over “its phony war on so-called narco-terrorism.”
“These serial extrajudicial killings gravely violate the right to life, which applies extraterritorially,” he said on March 13.
“The attacks were not in national self-defense, since the vessels were not engaged in any armed attack on the U.S. Drug trafficking is crime, not war.”
On Wednesday, the same day the U.S. military killed three people in a strike in the eastern Pacific, a group of Democrats, led by Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, filed six articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with one of the articles accusing him of violating the law of armed conflict over the strikes.
Larson accused Hegseth of abusing his position by ordering “our armed forces to strike boats in the Caribbean,” he said in a statement.
COMIC Jack Whitehall kicked off his £250,000 wedding to model Roxy Horner yesterday by rowing a boat across a lake to her.
The 37-year-old’s romantic gesture moved some guests to tears — but his pals soon lightened the mood as they jokingly called out to him: “Shagger!”
The comment was believed to be a reference to his appearance on BBC ancestry programme Who Do You Think You Are? in 2019.
It saw Jack discover that his great-great-grandfather Richard, a travelling salesman, was a bed-hopping womaniser killed by syphilis.
The funnyman smiled on the show as he called him “a bit of a shagger”.
His wedding took place in the grounds of £12million stately home Euridge Manor, near Chippenham, Wilts.
Read more on Jack Whitehall
The Georgian-style property is owned by Kate Middleton’s former boss, Jigsaw tycoon John Robinson.
Jack and Roxy invited more than 100 guests, including the comedian’s fellow TV star father Michael and mother Hilary.
Jack and 34-year-old Roxy’s two-year-old daughter Elsie acted as a flower girl.
The comedian’s sister Molly appeared to be a bridesmaid while his brother Barnaby was his best man.
Speaking to The Sun earlier this year, Jack said of Barnaby: “I gave quite a savage speech at his wedding.
“There were a few low blows he wasn’t too appreciative of.
“He’s going to have his opportunity to get his revenge on the big day.
“I’m bracing myself for that.”
Celebrity guests were said to include TV pals James Corden and Jamie Redknapp, who Jack worked with on Sky’s A League of Their Own.
Guests were asked to turn off their phones during the ceremony and were put on a social media blackout.
Cars driving in and out of the venue had blacked-out windows and there were security guards at the gates and by the entrance to the stately home.
Brit Awards host Jack and Roxy started dating in 2020 after meeting on a trip to Australia.
They got engaged in 2024.
