Naval warfare OSINT analyst H I Sutton shared a post suggesting his perspective on what could have been used for the explosive attack on the so-called Crimea Bridge overnight July 17th, 2023.
He came up with his own version of how the events unfolded and assumed that remodeled personal watercraft could have been deployed by Ukrainian forces for this attack. With that, the Navy of Ukraine could have four different types of maritime attack drones used for different purposes.
Read more: How They Missed in Russia the Kamikaze Boats That Struck the Kerch Bridge
Whether Ukraine has as many as four types of naval drones or are they just four stages of the evolution of a single explosive drone, remains an open question. Meanwhile, the possibility of reforging a jet ski into a weapon is an interesting topic that deserves a thorough analysis.
H I Sutton explains that he came up with the idea when he saw photos published by russian media allegedly from the blast site near the Crimean Bridge. The watercraft in this picture was described as one of the neutralized "suicide boats" used for the attack on the occupied city of Sevastopol on July 16th.
Although the image resolution is poor, the outlines similar to a jet ski can be seen. The author compared this model to the Kawasaki STX jet ski. The "remodeling" was in adding fuel tanks to increase the range and communication devices for feedback and control.
In addition, H I Sutton suggested that the "weaponized jet skis" used in the attack on the bridge are smaller than the "classic" Ukrainian naval drone previously revealed by the United24 foundation that raises funds for making them.
On the part of Defense Express, the theory itself is interesting but it doesn't take into account a few nuances. First of all, a civilian-use jet ski design doesn't provide enough space to fit explosives inside and safe delivery of the said explosives to the destination. Secondly, open-market watercraft doesn't normally feature seaworthiness and enough operational mobility to cross several hundred miles from the potential launch site all the way to the Crimean Bridge on the backside of the occupied peninsula.
With that in mind, Defense Express suggests an alternative version: instead of remaking commercial jet skis, Ukrainian engineers could have applied design solutions similar to the ones used in jet skis in order to beef up the hull and increase the explosive compartment so it has destructive power, enough to make an entire section of the massive bridge collapse.
Read more: Ukrainians Developed an Underwater Explosive Drone to Destroy russian Black Sea Fleet
