Ukraine's MV11 Is a Floating Counter-Drone Battery
UFORCE's newest uncrewed surface vessel carries 18 Sting interceptors and can operate a week at sea — no crew required.
By The Defense Desk
Ukraine debuted its largest drone boat yet at this year's Independence Day parade in Kyiv: the MV11, a crewless surface vessel designed for open-ocean operations lasting up to a week and capable of carrying payloads up to 4,850 pounds (2,200 kilograms). [1]
The MV11 is the latest addition to the combat-proven Magura family of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), built by UFORCE — a company founded in Ukraine but headquartered in London, with its primary design and R&D bureau for the Magura line based in Portugal. [1]
The Sting interceptor, developed by Ukrainian firm Wild Hornets, weighs roughly nine pounds and is electrically powered with a small explosive warhead. [1] It can reach altitudes of nearly 23,000 feet (7,000 meters) and has a maximum range of around 23 miles (37 kilometers). [1] Crucially, it has already proven effective against Russian variants and derivatives of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 one-way attack drone. [1] Units that miss their target can be recovered and reused.
[1] The MV11's visible sensor fit includes a camera turret, navigation radar, and two horn-like antennas, plus what appear to be a pair of satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals on the main deck — the link most likely needed to relay Sting operators' commands at range. [1]
The architecture here matters as much as the hardware. Sending interceptors forward — ahead of the coastline, out onto open water — changes the geometry of air defense entirely. It spreads the kill chain across domains rather than concentrating it at fixed, targetable points on land.
Ukrainian air defense units are under heavy strain from Russia's constant drone and missile barrages, and Sting-armed MV11s positioned in the Black Sea could thin out incoming swarms before they reach land-based surface-to-air missile batteries. [1] Ukraine has already demonstrated USVs armed with traditional anti-air missiles and claimed successful kills of Russian fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. [1] An MV11 loaded with Stings would extend that envelope further from shore.
The payload capacity leaves room for other missions. UFORCE says the MV11 can support surveillance and reconnaissance, amphibious operations, and cargo transport. [1] Electronic warfare packages, communications relay nodes, or offensive drone swarms are all plausible future payloads.
The export angle is already visible. [1] An MV11 paired with even a basic early-warning network could offer a cost-effective intercept layer for Shaheds crossing the Persian Gulf or the Gulf of Oman. [1]
What Ukraine is assembling, vessel by vessel, is less a fleet than a modular weapons ecosystem — one where the ship is merely the chassis and the payload defines the mission. The MV11 is the largest chassis yet.
Now publicly revealed, the MV11 is expected to move from parade to operational deployment. When it does, it will carry 18 chances to intercept a threat before it ever reaches the shore. [1]