On Sunday, July 27, 2025, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation published a video on social media from the “July Storm” exercise (Ijulsky Shtorm in Russian), which had been conducted since July 23 in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the Baltic Sea, and the Caspian Sea, involving forces from the Northern, Pacific, and Baltic Fleets, as well as the Caspian Flotilla. The exercise focused on detecting and destroying naval and coastal targets—over 550 operational episodes in total.
Photo: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
During one of the exercise episodes, the Baltic Fleet destroyed a simulated enemy warship, a large target barge, BKSzh (Bolshoy Korabelnyy Shchit) of Project 436B, using unmanned maritime systems. Several types of vessels, including naval aviation helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, and unmanned boats, participated in the drills. The exercise also included practicing the protection of maritime ports in Kronstadt and Baltiysk against hostile surface drones, according to the TASS news agency.
For obvious reasons, units of the Black Sea Fleet, currently engaged in active combat operations, did not participate in exercises in their area of responsibility. However, it is worth noting that, unlike other fleets and flotillas, the Black Sea Fleet has combat experience in employing such unmanned strike systems. On February 10, 2023, a Russian naval kamikaze drone of an unidentified type attacked a drawbridge (Pidyomnyy Mist) between the towns of Zatoka and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in Ukraine’s Odesa Oblast. This marked the first documented use of such a weapon by Russian forces (in contrast to Ukrainian forces, currently the most experienced in this domain worldwide, and earlier, the Houthis).
However, the official formation of units equipped with such weapon systems was only announced in May 2024.
Other exercise episodes featured in the released video:
- 00:38 – A Pacific Fleet search-and-strike group destroyed a simulated enemy submarine off the coast of Kamchatka, in the waters of Avacha Bay.
- 01:43 – Northern Fleet aircraft crews conducted mock air raids on critical infrastructure targets of a simulated enemy fleet. Northern Fleet pilots struck more than 20 targets at the training range.
- 02:08 – The small missile ship RFS Tayfun (805) of Project 22800 Karakurt, equipped with the latest Pantsir-M air defense system, destroyed a Kh-35 Uran anti-ship missile simulating a sea-skimming attack.
- 02:35 – Northern Fleet ships destroyed a simulated enemy submarine in the Barents Sea using live depth charge drops on a mock underwater target.
- 03:00 – Small landing ships of the Baltic Fleet laid minefields in designated sea zones.
Additionally, according to TASS, during the exercise, the guided missile frigate RFS Admiral Gorshkov (456) of Project 22350, the nuclear-powered attack submarine K-266 Oryol of Project 949AM Antey, and the K-300P Bastion-P coastal defense missile system conducted live launches of Kalibr-NK, P-700 Granit, and P-800 Oniks/Yakhont cruise missiles. Meanwhile, in the Sea of Japan, the missile cruiser RFS Varyag (011) of Project 1164 Atlant launched a P-1000 Vulkan anti-ship missile, and a strike group composed of the missile boats R-18 and R-20 attacked targets with Moskit cruise missiles.
In total, the exercise involved over 150 combat and support vessels, 120 aircraft, 10 coastal missile defense systems, 950 military and special vehicles, and more than 15,000 troops. The drills were conducted under the command of Admiral Aleksandr Moiseyev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, and supervised by President Vladimir Putin.
Source: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
In recent months, similar live-fire exercises involving single-use naval strike drones, referred to in the West as OWA (One-Way Attack) systems, have been conducted by the French and Canadian Navies. In April 2024, U.S. company Maritime Tactical Systems, Inc. (MARTAC) unveiled the Muskie M18, an autonomous kamikaze-type Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV), which was handed over to the U.S. Department of Defense for testing.
