Sea Drones in Naval Warfare: A Political Analysis of Their Role in the Russo-Ukrainian Conflict

The current armed conflict in Ukraine manifests through both terrestrial and maritime domains. While the international community has predominantly focused on land-based confrontations for almost three years, the strategic importance of maritime operations remains paramount. Warfare at sea constitutes a primary form of engagement in contemporary armed conflicts. Within it, sea drones represent the most critical avenue of development for modern military technology. Developments in the Black Sea underscore this significance. The deployment of so-called "sea drones" by Ukraine for strikes against Russian vessels during the last years has garnered worldwide interest. The paramount example was the October 2022 coordinated attack by Ukrainian aerial and sea drones on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Sevastopol Naval Base, which resulted in considerable losses for Russia. "Sea drones", or autonomous and unmanned maritime vessels, have been revolutionizing the shipping industry for several years and now naval warfare. The extent to which Ukrainian forces have employed sea drones represents an unprecedented escalation in the application of unmanned maritime technology in a conflict zone. The reliance on AI-driven autonomous vessels signifies a leap towards a future where unmanned systems could play a central role in both strategic deterrence and operational engagements at sea. The author analyses how the growing use of autonomous sea drones challenges traditional concepts of warfare and political violence. The paper aims to explore how autonomous sea drones have influenced the dynamics of political violence in naval warfare during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. It concludes that this paradigm shift in the manifestation of political violence, particularly the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in naval operations, could potentially redefine naval warfare as we know it (e.g., by lowering the threshold for engagement, enabling deniability or shifting power asymmetries).