Ukrainian naval drones played a key role in NATO’s REPMUS 2025 maritime exercise, held Sept. 1-26, acting as enemy forces in scenarios modeled on Kyiv’s real-world battlefield experience against Russia.
The Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Uncrewed Systems (REPMUS) exercise, organized by Portugal, saw participation from 24 allied navies aimed at testing the use of and defense against autonomous naval systems, where Ukraine’s unique experience was leaned on heavily.
The Portuguese Navy’s spokesman, Captain Valter de Bulha Almeid, commented on Ukraine’s participation at a media briefing at Portugal’s Naval Operational Experimentation Centre (NOEC) in Tróia, saying the allies are “learning a lot from Ukraine.”
“The question is not who is winning [the war in Ukraine]; I am much more interested in developing tactics – we’re learning a lot from Ukraine,” de Bulha Almeid said.
In particular, Ukrainian forces showcased their unmanned surface vessels (USV) without revealing details of the role they played.
The media briefing package revealed that the “enemy red team” had deployed 61 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), 57 USVs, and one unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).
Of particular interest to both NATO naval forces and the media was the upgraded version of the Magura V7.2 USV, produced by the Ukrainian state-owned company SpetsTechnoExport (STE).
Images of it carrying modified (probably replica) R-73 air-to-air missiles, moored in the NOEC, were published on X by the Portuguese Defence360 military outlet.
The Magura V7.2 was one of three types of Ukrainian USV deployed on the exercise, according to defense outlet Militarniy.
The exercise highlighted the growing role of drones among NATO navies, with the deployment of Portugal’s X31 drone squadron. The squadron’s mission includes testing and operating unmanned systems, as well as developing Lisbon’s drone warfare doctrine, inspired by Ukrainian input.
The exercise also saw the widespread use of electronic warfare (EW) systems, both to defend against and to test the resilience of unmanned systems deployed by participating units, as NATO continues to develop countermeasures to the drone threat posed to naval forces.