Red Cat moves into the USV business with partnership to build Ukrainian MAGURAs

US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) specialist Red Cat Holdings announced on 14 May 2025 that it is expanding its multi-domain family of systems by partnering with “a leading global manufacturer” of unmanned surface vessels (USVs).

Although the partner in the company’s USV venture was not named, an illustration on the Red Cat website was identifiable as a Ukrainian MAGURA V7 USV.

On 2 May MAGURA V7s operated by Group 13, a special unit within Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (DIU), made history by becoming the first USVs to shoot down a fixed-wing aircraft when they brought down two Russian Su-30 fighters in the Black Sea region using surface-launched AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.

Smaller MAGURA V5s USVs, which preceded the V7, have been used to attack numerous Russian naval targets in the Black Sea during the Ukraine War since mid-2023, successfully sinking several major vessels.

Red Cat stated that its decision to develop its own line of “kinetic-capable USVs” is “a direct response to rising geopolitical tensions and a shift in US defense priorities toward re-asserting American maritime dominance globally”, adding that the company “is well positioned to deliver American-manufactured solutions that address these urgent operational needs of the US and allied naval forces”.

Of the USV it said it would produce in the United States, Red Cat stated that it “is tested daily in actual combat and designed to operate either autonomously or in manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) configurations”, effectively confirming that the technology in question is being used in the Ukraine war.

Jeff Thompson, Red Cat’s CEO, said the technology “has been used day in and day out in the current conflict, accumulating tens of thousands of hours in real combat operations and achieving dozens of successful kinetic engagements against enemy assets, more than any navy since World War II”.

Thompson added that “By partnering with a company that has extensive proven experience and is well beyond the proof-of-concept stage, we gain a substantial competitive advantage as we enter this market.”

The actual manufacturer of the MAGURAs is not known, but the USVs are known to have been developed by the Ukrainian defence industry in conjunction with the DIU.

Red Cat stated that it is preparing to start production in the third quarter of 2025 a 7 m “Expeditionary Multi-Role Craft developed to meet the demands of high-speed, long-range, kinetic maritime operations”. The company added that the USV will be built for “larger payloads, extended endurance and increased firepower” and has “enhanced range, payload capacity and mission flexibility, making it ideal for deep-strike missions, anti-ship warfare and coastal interdiction in contested zones”.

While the MAGURA V5 has been used as bomb-laden ‘kamikaze USV’, it is not known whether the MAGURA V7 would be used in a similar way, or whether its main role is as an unmanned naval platform for missiles and other weapons, as with the operation that brought down the Russian Su-30s.